How much does connecting to a water and wastewater system cost?

It varies and it depends. Need more details? It may cost as little as a few hundred dollars to connect to a rural water system in some areas of the state or $10,000 or more in other areas such as the coast or fast growing urban centers that are facing high infrastructure costs to add capacity. If $10,000 sounds excessive, consider that connection charges in certain communities in the country facing severe water supply and infrastructure challenges can run as much as $35,000 to $50,000 for a new connection. The median combined connection cost for a single family water and sewer connect charged by the 328 utilities who provide both services and were included in a connection charge survey completed last month came out to be just under $2,400. The cost of water and wastewater service in many areas has become a significant component of new housing costs and is likely to grow as communities cope with the rising costs of infrastructure. For organizations like the UNC Environmental Finance Center (EFC) that study how communities pay for environmental services, one of the interesting questions related to providing water and wastewater service is how a particular community decides to pass those costs on to customers. Some communities only charge their new customers modest “tap fees” designed to cover the actual cost of making the connection, while other communities choose to charge capacity or capital charges to help offset the cost of their major facilities (treatment plants, major transmission lines etc.) that will be [...]