Each time you fill up a glass of water or brush your teeth, maybe you’re trying to conserve water for nature’s sake, but you’re probably not overly worried about jacking up your water bill. That could change, as the price of overhauling our country’s drinking water system is likely to be a steep one, warns a new study — and that expense could be reflected in the water bills of many consumers.

The American Water Works Association says that the changes between 2011 and 2035 will cost around $1 trillion. To cover that cost, CNNMoney says we’ll start paying more for household water.

“The amounts will vary depending on community size and geographic region, but in some communities these infrastructure costs alone could triple the size of a typical family’s water bills,” the report said.

Right now the average bill for water in a household is around $335 per year, says the organization, which focuses on drinking water quality and supply. Those living in small, rural communities will probably be hit hardest because there are less infrastructure projects out there to share the expense. Those bills could go up to around $550 per year.

It might not be an exciting prospect to pay out more money, but the repairs the report talks about are pretty necessary, and failing to do them soon could lead to more expensive fixes later.

“We face the need for massive reinvestment in our water infrastructure over the coming decades,” the report states. “The pipe networks that were largely built and paid for by earlier generations — and passed down to us as an inheritance –last a long time, but they are not immortal.”

Water bills expected to triple in some parts of U.S. [CNNMoney]

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