Fitch report: Drought could eventually pressure some California water agencies

According to a new report from Fitch Ratings, drought conditions across California have not triggered rating changes thus far for water agencies, although some agencies could be susceptible to rating pressure over time.

Despite its second, severe, multi-year drought in a decade worsened by the Colorado River drought, Fitch says California utilities are well-positioned to take on more debt to finance water reliability or other resiliency projects. The main reasons are low leverage, robust liquidity and, according to Shannon Groff, director at Fitch, history on their side.