Wastewater Service Rates and Capacity Charges

The Bear Valley Water District provides wastewater service, including collection, treatment and disposal, to residential and business customers within the District's boundaries.  The District's most recent service rates became effective in 2022 and the capacity charge paid by new connections to the system was revised in 2018. 

Service Rates

Residential Rates

Single family dwellings and condominiums are charged a flat monthly rate and billed quarterly.

Non-Residential Rates

Users other than residential users shall be charged their actual water usage at a cost per gallon or the commercial minimum monthly charge, whichever is greater. 

Rate Determination and Approval Process

2022 Service Rates

A Wastewater Cost of Service Rate Study was conducted on behalf of the District by Bartle Wells Associates and the California Rural Water Association.  The District's Board of Directors formally accepted this Study at a regularly scheduled meeting  of the Board on March 22, 2022.  The Study recommends increasing sewer service rates to address forecasts for increasing expenditures to support operations and maintenance of the wastewater system while maintaining sufficient operational, improvement and emergency reserves.  A link to the Study may be found in the table below.

2014 - 2019 Service Rates

On May 24, 2014, following a public hearing, the current residential and commercial rates were approved by the Board of Directors according to the 1996 "Right to Vote on Taxes Act" (Prop 218).  On October 21, 2019, the Board of Directors approved an increase to sewer service charges to account for inflation since 2016.  Documents related to the most recent service fee rate increase are included below.

Capacity Charges

All applications for new or additional sewer service to the District’s Sewer System shall submit a fully completed written application (“Connection Application”) for each connection requested to the District in the form provided by the District together with payment of the following:

Application Fee

Applicants shall pay a nonrefundable application administrative fee of $100.00 for each Residential connection in the Connection Application and $100.00 for each non-Residential connection in the Connection Application to cover the District’s costs of administration of the application.

Inspection Fee

The Applicant shall be responsible for retaining a licensed contractor approved by the District to make the physical connection to the District’s sewer system at the applicant’s expense and shall pay the District a Connection Fee as defined by Government Code Section 66013(b)(5) for the inspection of the physical connection for each connection applied for as follows:

Capacity Charges (Buy-In Fee)

All applicants for new or additional sewer service to the District’s Sewer System shall pay a Capacity Charge as defined by Government Code Section 66013(b)(3) prior to issuance of a permit by the District. The Capacity Charge for each connection for existing and uncommitted sewer capacity shall be as follows:

* Subject to Article IV, section 2.C, the Capacity Charge for each nonresidential connection permitted by the District shall be proportionately rated to a twenty-four-fixture-unit residence following the Equivalent Drainage Fixture Unit Table in the current edition of the Uniform Plumbing Code.

The Capacity Charge for each non-residential connection that the District determines may generate a high waste volume or impose high BOD loading shall be established by the Board of Directors and based on the projected flow and BOD load as determined by the District’s Engineer or Manager.

Rate Determination and Approval Process

Capacity charges are derived from an analysis of capacity in the District's system (how many equivalent dwelling units (EDUs) the collection, treatment and disposal system can support) along with the total cost of District completed improvements escalated to reflect the impact of inflation on assets over time.  The 1978 Alpine County Master Plan describes the approved projects in the District's service area and provides the basis for the District's capacity projections.