TranslateAt the Mar. 18, 2025 Marin Water Board of Director's meeting, the Board approved an update to the District's capacity charges, which will become effective on all completed water service applications received by the District on or after July 1, 2025.
Over the past several months, Marin Water staff have been working with Bartle Wells Associates, an experienced independent public financial advisor, to update the District’s capacity charges, which were last updated in 2018.
Capacity charges are one-time fees, paid as a condition of initially connecting to the water system or upgrading an existing water service. Capacity charges are designed to recover the reasonable costs of water system infrastructure and assets benefiting new or expanded water connections that are of proportional benefit to the person or property being charged. Marin Water, in consultation with Bartle Wells and Associates, has developed capacity charges based on water meter size.
The study recommended changing from the current practice of estimating water demand on a per acre-foot of annual water demand for customers to utilizing industry standard meter equivalent units (MEUs) for each water meter size as established by the American Water Works Association. MEUs represent the capacity needed to serve a particular water meter size. Since larger water meters place a higher demand on the District’s infrastructure, utilizing the MEU methodology will ensure that customers are proportionally assigned more MEUs as their meter sizes increase to recover the District’s cost associated with meeting those higher capacity water system demands.
For more detailed information, review the Capacity Charge Study, which illustrates that the charges do not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service. A hard copy of the study is also available in the Office of the Board Secretary located at the District’s Administration Building, 220 Nellen Ave., Corte Madera, CA 94925, for review during normal business hours.
Capacity Charges Effective July 1, 2025
Connection Type | Capacity Charges |
| Single Family & Duplex up to 1" [1] Single Family or Duplex connections with meter size up to 1" | $16,740 |
| Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) [2] Charge per plumbing drainage fixture unit (when applicable) | $507 |
All Other Connections by Meter Size | |
Meter Size | |
5/8" | $16,740 |
3/4" | $25,110 |
1" | $41,850 |
1 1/2" | $83,700 |
2" | $133,920 |
3" | $334,800 |
4" | $669,600 |
6" | $1,171,800 |
8" | $2,259,900 |
10" | $3,348,000 |
1) Single Family and Duplex customers with a meter size greater than 1" shall be assessed a capacity charge based on the corresponding meter size set forth in “All Other Connection” above
2) ADU capacity charge applies pursuant to Government Code and District Code, when applicable
Single Family Residential Water Capacity Charge Survey with Current and Updated Charges
In conjunction with the study and to assist applicants with the payment of capacity charges, the District updated Board Policy 12, which provides reduced capacity charges for qualifying low income/affordable housing projects, and Board Policy 27, which provides a capacity charge installment plan and deferred payment of capacity charges for qualifying projects.
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