Columbia Water
City of Columbia, major portions of Richland County, portions of Lexington County, and surrounding Midlands communities
Population reference
Columbia Water’s official services page states that the City serves approximately 400,000 customers in Richland and Lexington Counties, with roughly 63,000 approved wastewater connections. The service area and customer base are far above the 3,300-person threshold.
Billing detail
Broad public detail found
Official destination
Open provider website ↗Provider-specific findings
Billing and account research from public material
Provider-specific research notes are displayed separately from fields that contain only an unavailable-information marker. Read qualifiers in each note and verify current account terms with the provider.
- Billing frequency
- Monthly. Columbia Water states that all customers receive a water bill each month and that a missing bill does not relieve the customer from paying by the delinquent date.
- Rate structure
- Fixed base charge covering the first 3 units, then volumetric tiered charges per unit of 100 cubic feet. One unit equals 748.052 gallons. Rates became effective July 1, 2026. In-city standard residential service uses a 5/8-inch base of $10.37, then $3.72 per unit for units 4–100, $3.54 for units 101–1,000, and $3.36 above 1,000; out-of-city rates are higher. Columbia publishes separate standard-meter and AMI-meter residential schedules.
- Residential cost reference
- For an in-city 5/8-inch residential account using 5,000 gallons (about 6.68 units), the July 2026 schedule yields an illustrative water subtotal of roughly $10.37 + (3.68 × $3.72) = $24.06 and sewer of roughly $10.37 + (6.68 × $5.38) = $46.31, or about $70.37 for water and sewer before the separate in-city stormwater utility fee and any account-specific charges. The calculation assumes a standard meter and does not include partial-unit rounding beyond the city’s billing method.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Sewer includes a fixed connection base fee by meter size/location plus a charge for each unit of water used. Effective July 1, 2026, the in-city 5/8-inch sewer base is $10.37 and the in-city sewer use charge is $5.38 per 100 cubic feet; out-of-city sewer use is $9.18 per unit. Multiple-unit properties receive additional sewer line items based on dwelling/room count and meter size. In-city customers also receive a separate stormwater utility fee.
- Meter reading
- Columbia Water is implementing advanced metering infrastructure. The current meter-upgrade page states that AMI meters transmit consumption remotely and securely to Columbia Water daily, while the Eye On Water portal provides up-to-the-minute usage information and leak notifications. The utility’s public material also references 15-minute AMI readings in the program description; customers should use the current portal for the actual interval available at their premise. Before AMI, meters were generally read monthly and inaccessible meters could generate estimated bills.
- New-account deposit
- The reviewed current new/transfer-service page requires owner/lessee information, the last five Social Security digits, service date, contact information, and a $30 processing fee plus a $15 connection fee on the first bill. It does not state a universal residential security-deposit amount or credit-check waiver on the current page; account-specific requirements may be provided after application. Separate meter and sewer-tap fees apply to owner-funded development and special-service work.
- Activation or transfer fee
- A new or transferred account carries a $30 processing fee plus an additional $15 connection fee added to the first bill. New applications generally require up to two business days for processing; transfer requests can take up to five business days and require all past-due balances to be zero. Property owners handle applications and payment for water meters and sewer taps through Special Services, with separate construction fees.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
South Carolina
30%
records with any overview detail
National index
50%
records with any overview detail
Coverage measures what this directory documented. It does not measure service quality, affordability, or regulatory compliance.
Research record
Broad public detail found
7 of 7 fields in this section contain provider-specific public detail in dataset August 1, 2026.
Documented
100%
Primary verification routes
- Columbia Water public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System ↗
Federal background on public water-system records and their limitations.