Impact Fee Map
Home / Fee types / Water tap
Depends on state and local authority

Water tap or connection fee

A one-time charge to connect to the water system, usually split between the physical tap and a capacity or system development component.

Who charges it

The water utility, which may be a city, a district or a private company

The trap

In most states this sits outside the impact fee act entirely, under separate utility authority. It is frequently the largest single fee on a new house.

The charge usually has two components: the physical tap and meter, which is a real cost of work performed, and a capacity or system development component, which buys your share of plant and transmission capacity already in the ground.

Only the second component is arguably an impact fee. Arkansas's act draws exactly this line, folding hook-up and access charges into the impact fee definition unless the charge pays only for the physical connection or recovers the cost of the line being connected to.

Meter size is the single biggest driver. Larger meters carry substantially higher capacity charges, permanently. Size for the actual fixture count, not for comfort.

Where this is authorized

Among the states with a general enabling act, 24 list this facility type as eligible and 5 do not. States without an act are a local question entirely.

Listed as eligible

Not on the eligible list

Next

Read this before you rely on anything here. Impact Fee Map describes who is legally allowed to charge new construction, for what, and what a fee payer's rights are under state law. It does not publish fee amounts for any city, county or district, and it never will, because no source keeps thirty-nine thousand local schedules current and a stale number is worse than none. This is not legal advice, not a fee quote and not a substitute for the adopted fee schedule of the bodies with jurisdiction over your parcel. Statutes change; verify against the current text and confirm every figure in writing with the agency that will bill you.