Who pays to extend a water or sewer main to a new commercial building?

Phoenix says it twice, once for water and once for sewer. For water, the owner or developer "must pay all costs to design, permit, and construct the water main extension, including any costs of acquiring rights-of-way and easements, preparation of as-built plans, and the Department's inspection of construction." The sewer section is nearly word for word the same.

Five more points from those sections shape the budget:

• You hire the engineer. The city does no field engineering or detailed plans for an extension. You hire a civil engineer registered in Arizona.
• Pumping is on you. If a sewer needs a public lift station because gravity cannot carry the flow, the developer builds it at their own expense. The same goes for booster pumps or pressure reducing valves a water extension needs.
• The city decides the layout. The Director sizes the main for peak demand (and fire flow, for water) and determines the layout of public mains.
• You build more than your frontage. For developments other than a single residence on a single lot, Phoenix requires the developer to build the water mains within the development and in the streets bounding it. Off-site water mains needed to complete a looped connection to existing mains are also the developer's, as a general area improvement, whether or not they serve the property directly. Minimum sizes apply, and fire hydrants, valves and fittings are on the developer.
• You warrant it. The developer must guarantee mains, connections, valves and fittings against defects for two years after the city accepts them.

You do not keep it. Mains, service connections and lift stations built under those sections become the city's property when the city accepts them, and the city takes over ownership, maintenance and operation.

Sometimes you get money back. Phoenix runs repayment programs for larger off-site projects that later developers will connect to, one for sewer (28-23) and one for water (37-35). Both sort projects into two classes:

• Class 1: an off-site main built by one developer and connected to later by others. For sewer that means a main of eight inches or more.
• Class 2: larger projects, such as 12-inch or larger mains, lift stations or booster stations, that benefit a defined area and will likely draw other developers.

To qualify, the developer submits at least three written sealed bids for construction, and repayable costs generally cannot exceed the lowest bid. The distribution mains inside your own development boundary are not eligible. If the city asks you to build extra capacity, the city pays for that added capacity. When the city approves an agreement, later developers who connect pay a connection charge, and the city passes the money to you, keeping a three percent administration share. Class 1 agreements end after ten years and Class 2 agreements after twenty, or when the repayment is complete, whichever comes first. Repayment also interacts with impact fee credits, since a developer cannot be repaid for costs that earned credits.

The agreement is made before construction is accepted, not after. Ask the city before you design.

Mesa’s water code requires a person seeking service to extend at least an eight-inch distribution main, or the size determined by the Director, along the parcel’s frontage. The Director can reduce the frontage requirement when an extension is not needed to serve customers beyond the property. Transmission mains must be looped as the Water Master Plan requires. Extensions become city property, and title must be tendered before service is provided through them. Confirm the project’s current off-site improvement and development conditions with Mesa before budgeting.

Outside city limits, Phoenix's policy for outside-city retail service says it will connect a property that fronts an operating main with the right pressure zone and enough capacity. For unincorporated county land outside a private water company's former service area, it says main extensions are permitted only after annexation is approved by the City Council. In some incorporated areas, sewer main extensions are not permitted. Outside-city applicants pay the outside-city development, impact, connection, repayment agreement and permit fees, and the policy says outside-city occupational fees run at one and a half times the inside-city rates. Other utilities and cities set their own terms.

### How does the cost split in different situations?

The code sets the rule, but the situation sets the size of the bill. Here is how the responsibility falls in the situations owners run into most:

• The main is at your frontage. You pay for the tap and service line, not an extension. Most of the offsite cost is the tap and the street work. See how a tap works.
• The main is across the street or down the block. The extension to your frontage is yours, along with the easements to build it. If the pipe will also serve neighbors later, a repayment agreement may bring part of it back.
• The main is too small. Phoenix can require a developer to replace or parallel existing mains that do not meet the size rules or the development's demand, including fire flow.
• The sewer is downhill from you. If gravity cannot carry the flow, a lift station is on the developer, and the station becomes public property once accepted.
• You are outside city limits. Annexation and outside-city fees may apply before any extension is allowed.

Each case changes what you ask the city before design starts.

Read the code language again: design, permit, construction, right-of-way and easements, as-built plans, city inspection. The construction is only one line. The engineer, the easement acquisition, the plan review fees, the traffic control and pavement restoration in the street, and the inspection fees are others. Restoring the pavement is part of working in the street, so check what your utility requires when you plan the trench.

Find out how far the nearest main is and what size it is. The gap between your property line and that main is your extension. It is also the part of a site budget that shows up late, so check it before closing. Start with what a will-serve letter is, then pair this page with what offsite plumbing is and permits for a new commercial plumbing build. If the extension needs a pumping station, our page on what a sewage lift station is explains what you would be paying for.

Once the plans show what is on your side of the meter, HQ Plumbing & Air gives a free estimate with the price up front. Costs and rules vary by city and utility, so confirm your utility's current terms.

For the related service-planning question, see what happens when the nearest sewer main is not at your property.

For the related service-planning question, see who owns the commercial water service line from the street to the meter.