COATESVILLE, Pa. — Tony Washington couldn’t understand why his water bill last month was almost $200. But, given where he lives, he wasn’t surprised.

“This is Coatesville,” he said. “The worst of the worst.”

Washington is a disabled veteran who lives alone in a house perched on East Lincoln Highway, a potholed street that cuts through the heart of Coatesville, a small city less than an hour’s drive from Philadelphia. The buildings along the road — homes, diners, churches, bodegas — are old and worn down. On a recent May afternoon, with the temperature climbing into the high 80s, groups of families and friends gathered on the sidewalk to escape the sweltering heat inside. (Pennsylvania-American Water Co., the company that bills Washington, did not respond before press time to a question about the rates individual residents said they paid. After publication, PAWC provided Al Jazeera America with a copy of Washington's statement, which shows an average of $80 in charges for the last six months, with his recent charge much higher because of unpaid bills).

Sitting outside her mother’s apartment just a few blocks from Washington’s house, Shareese Vaughn also said she has trouble affording water for her apartment, which she lives in alone.

“Somebody was supposed to come up and check the meter and everything, and they did and said there weren’t nothing wrong with the meter,” she said. “They said it was the right price. Now I’m behind on my bills, but at least I have help from my mom and dad. I’m lucky.”

For Vaughn, who grew up in Coatesville, high water bills compound other long-standing problems. More money spent on the basics puts more stress on parents, who must raise their kids amid a well-organized, underground drug economy and few positive opportunities. Nearly 40 percent of the people living in Coatesville are too young or old to work , and unemployment is high among those who can. Almost a quarter of Coatesville’s population live below the poverty line, even though the city is located in the wealthiest county in Pennsylvania, and the rate of violent crime is well above the national average.

By all practical measures, Coatesville is 2 square miles of ghetto. Yet more than a dozen residents told Al Jazeera that, despite low use, they spend more than $100 each month for water, on par with residents of some major cities. All of their money goes to the private company that owns Coatesville’s water system, or PAWC.

The dilapidation of Coatesville is closely intertwined with the growing cost of water. Back in 2001, city officials sold the rights to the system to PAWC, in the hopes that the revenue from the sale could spark an urban renaissance. But that turnaround never came. Now thousands of low-income people must pay exorbitant prices to access a basic resource.