Nearly 200 households in the Diablo Grande community in western Stanislaus County have received water shutoff notices after the local water district raised monthly rates to more than $600.

Residents say they have continued to pay for water service, but are now being penalized because Western Hills Water District fell behind on its own payments to Kern County, which supplies the community’s water.

Verity Harding, who has lived in Diablo Grande since 2021, said her family’s bill used to be about $220 a month.

“It’s now over six hundred. We just can’t pay that,” Harding said. “We paid our bills every month. So what was our money going towards?”

In April, residents learned that Western Hills had not paid Kern County since 2019. The district owes millions of dollars for water deliveries it did not fully use. In response, the district approved a rate increase this summer to keep water running through the end of the year.

Residents who are more than 60 days past due or unable to pay the full amount have now received shutoff notices.

“We were told if we didn’t pay, our homes would be red tagged and the water would be shut off,” Harding said.

A notice from the district says customers qualify for payment plans or shutoff protection only if their household income is below 200% of the federal poverty line. That is about $64,300 a year for a family of four or about $31,200 for an individual.

In a separate post online, the district stated that “being disabled but financially able to pay does not qualify someone for special consideration.”

Western Hills Water District President Mark Kovich said the agency is following state law.

“These shutoffs apply only to customer accounts that are more than 60 days delinquent and are conducted in full compliance with California law and the District’s publicly adopted shutoff policy,” Kovich said in a statement to CBS13.

Residents say they still do not know what will happen after Dec. 31, when the temporary agreement with Kern County to continue water service is set to expire.

“We’re very stuck,” Harding said. “We’ve got till December thirty-first. What I know is, we won’t have water. How do you plan for something when no one will tell you what’s going to happen?”