Help is on the way for Baltimoreans who fell behind on water bills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baltimore City was selected to receive $15.87 million from the Maryland Water Assistance Program, which uses American Rescue Plan Act funds to support residents who acquired debt on their water bills during the pandemic.

Under the state program requirements, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works is required to allocate payments as bill credits to customer accounts while also waiving late fees and interest penalties. Those credits are applicable to people who fell behind on payments from the time between January 27, 2020 - September 30, 2022.

At this time, DPW was not able to give a timeline for when the credits would go out or how residents can go about applying for those allocations. A spokesperson for the agency wrote, "DPW is preparing to meet with the state to review grant program requirements, and then will finalize plans for distributing these funds to residential water customers in Baltimore City."

The state requires water systems like DPW to allocate the credits no later than 90 days after receiving payment from the State of Maryland.

In the meantime, DPW encourages city residents to visit their affordability portal to learn about water assistance programs for which they may qualify. There is still time to sign up for a one-time 5% discount by signing up for paperless billing: That deadline is May 31, 2023.