Payment access · dataset 2026.08
Online payment is common. Clear fee disclosure is not.
A national comparison of provider-published payment destinations and public convenience-fee information in 3,490 indexed water-system records.
73%
had a usable online payment URL
2,562 of 3,490 records contained an HTTP or HTTPS payment destination attributed to the provider.
15%
disclosed a fee or no-fee amount
529 records included a numeric fee, percentage, or an explicit no-fee statement in the compiled material.
Key finding
A portal link does not answer the price question.
The directory found usable online payment URLs in 73% of records, but a numeric fee or explicit no-fee statement in only 15%. That gap matters because a checkout may add a fixed processor charge, apply different limits to residential and commercial accounts, or offer a free bank-draft route alongside a paid card route.
The result should not be interpreted as evidence that the remaining providers charge a fee. It means a stable, provider-specific public statement was not identified in this dataset. For an individual payment, the live checkout screen and current utility instructions remain authoritative.
This distinction is why the directory separates documented research notes from missing fields instead of turning every unavailable value into a generic paragraph.
State comparison
Documentation in the indexed sample
Small state samples can produce extreme percentages. Counts are included so the denominator stays visible.
| State | Systems | Portal found | Fee detail found |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | 8 | 100% | 13% |
| Wyoming | 8 | 100% | 13% |
| Nebraska | 13 | 92% | 0% |
| Nevada | 11 | 91% | 18% |
| Maine | 10 | 90% | 30% |
| Maryland | 27 | 85% | 19% |
| North Dakota | 11 | 82% | 9% |
| California | 418 | 81% | 24% |
| Colorado | 136 | 81% | 19% |
| New Jersey | 99 | 81% | 7% |
| Oklahoma | 36 | 81% | 8% |
| Massachusetts | 128 | 80% | 6% |
| Minnesota | 70 | 79% | 13% |
| Illinois | 156 | 78% | 6% |
| North Carolina | 97 | 78% | 9% |
| Wisconsin | 46 | 78% | 15% |
| Alaska | 9 | 78% | 33% |
| West Virginia | 13 | 77% | 23% |
| Virginia | 66 | 76% | 21% |
| Indiana | 50 | 76% | 18% |
| Mississippi | 29 | 76% | 7% |
| Oregon | 48 | 75% | 8% |
| Kansas | 24 | 75% | 8% |
| Vermont | 4 | 75% | 0% |
| Florida | 261 | 74% | 18% |
| Texas | 400 | 73% | 25% |
| New York | 108 | 73% | 16% |
| Washington | 107 | 73% | 12% |
| Arkansas | 33 | 73% | 3% |
| Ohio | 115 | 72% | 15% |
| Georgia | 86 | 72% | 12% |
| Louisiana | 42 | 71% | 10% |
| Missouri | 40 | 70% | 15% |
| Iowa | 35 | 69% | 9% |
| New Mexico | 19 | 68% | 11% |
| Michigan | 100 | 67% | 8% |
| Connecticut | 33 | 67% | 12% |
| Montana | 9 | 67% | 0% |
| New Hampshire | 9 | 67% | 33% |
| District of Columbia | 3 | 67% | 33% |
| Tennessee | 101 | 66% | 17% |
| Kentucky | 50 | 64% | 4% |
| Hawaii | 14 | 64% | 21% |
| Idaho | 16 | 63% | 6% |
| Utah | 61 | 62% | 7% |
| Arizona | 58 | 62% | 9% |
| Pennsylvania | 107 | 59% | 20% |
| Alabama | 77 | 58% | 10% |
| Delaware | 12 | 58% | 8% |
| South Carolina | 60 | 48% | 3% |
| Rhode Island | 17 | 47% | 12% |
Method
How to reproduce the result
The portal measure counts records whose online_payment_portal_url begins with HTTP or HTTPS and is not marked N/A. The fee-disclosure measure counts a field when it includes a dollar amount, percentage, explicit no-fee statement, or a clearly waived/free payment charge. A note that merely says the amount was not published does not count.
The analysis uses dataset 2026.08, published August 1, 2026. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Download the CSV export or read the full methodology and limitations.