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 deliverie

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