The California Department of Justice has issued a “legal alert” intended to help protect people from water shutoffs as the state continues to struggle with drought, rising prices and the lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta said he issued the alert this past Wednesday partly as a response to an estimated 40 percent increase in the price of certain types of water transactions so far this year and the fact that roughly 1.6 million Californians have fallen behind on their payments as of January 2021.

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Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.