A visit to the city's public works department

While the land is outside city limits, it's within the city's water service area. That means that I get municipal water instead of drilling a well.

As part of the feasibility study, I went by the Public Works office to find out how much it would cost to connect to the water. They gave me this:

In addition, there's a "latecomer fee". Someone else in the area recently paid to extend the water main in to our neighborhood, at considerable expense. Because we benefit from it, when we hook up, we will pay a portion of that expense. The price is based on the "frontage" of the property: the length of the propery along the street. In our case, the parcels are each ~140 feet wide, so that's an additional $5000.

So:

$1,335 water meter - tap in to main line

$  250 water reservation - county

$2,522 system development charge water

$5,040 latecomer fee

Total about $9000. That's just fees to hook up to water. It's not the work we'll have to do, like digging the trench and connecting the plumbing. Since there are two parcels, if we wanted to build on both, it'd be $9000 for each parcel.

I was told that wells are about $3000 for a 100 ft well, but some are 300 feet deep at $9000. At that rate, a well might make sense. Especially because the ongoing costs of a well would be less than the city water. But I was also told that if there's city water available, they don't want you to dig a well, so I guess that's not an option.

In the long run, I think I can get our water consumption very low, by collecting rainwater and recycling graywater. I wonder if we'll ever be able to turn off the water service entirely? Ask me again in 10 years.