across the united states. good morning. the premier league returns today with a huge game at lunchtime as manchester city host liverpool, knowing their title chase can t afford an april fool s day slip up. good morning. it s been the wettest march in over a0 years for parts of the uk, but thankfully the weekend is bringing us something drier and eventually something brighter as well. i ll have all the details here on bbc breakfast. it s saturday 1 april. our top story: households already struggling with the rising cost of living will see many of their bills increase from today. council tax, water charges and some mobile phone costs are going up, but there will also be a big increase in the national minimum wage. as part of the bbc news tackling it together series, 0ur cost of living correspondent colletta smith has been looking at what is going up and what you can do about it.
jackson, mississippi, say they are facing extremely high water bills, and they re pleading with city officials to offer some relief for those who say they just can t afford it. the increase in water charges come after historic flooding in late august left the majority black city without clean drinking water for nearly two months. it was such a dire situation, it was extremely lot as well, and even now, some jackson residents are paying more for water that is still coming out of their faucets with a brown tinged color and with low pressure. joining me now is cnn senior race and equality writer who spoke to one jackson resident who received a $4,000 water bill. good morning. i mean, that is outrageous. that s hire than most people s mortgages. why is their water bill so high? are we talking about a one month water bill? a bill that s been overdue for some time? please explain.