Fairfax Water (Fairfax County Water Authority)
Fairfax County and Northern Virginia wholesale and retail service territory
Population reference
More than 2 million residents receive Fairfax Water drinking water through its retail and regional wholesale system; the utility produces approximately 170 million gallons per day and serves Fairfax County and surrounding Northern Virginia communities.
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
- Residential customers are billed every three months. Fairfax Water reads the meter approximately one week before the bill is issued, and the bill is due 30 days after it is rendered. Some account configurations may receive monthly billing, with the winter-month baseline normalized to 30 days, but the standard residential schedule is quarterly.
- Rate structure
- A quarterly meter-size service charge plus a commodity charge per 1,000 gallons, with a seasonal peak-use charge for established accounts. Effective April 1, 2026, the standard quarterly service charge is $17.55; established-account commodity is $4.35 per 1,000 gallons, new-account commodity is $4.50 until winter-quarter history is established, and peak-use charge is $4.20 per 1,000 gallons. Peak use applies during billing periods ending June-November when usage exceeds 1.3 times winter-quarter consumption or 6,000 gallons above that baseline, whichever is greater.
- Residential cost reference
- For a typical 5,000-7,000-gallon monthly household, Fairfax Water's 2026 water-only cost is roughly $25-$35 per month before seasonal peak-use charges, because the standard quarterly service charge is $17.55 and commodity use is $4.35 per 1,000 gallons. A household using 6,000 gallons monthly would see about $95-$100 for three months of ordinary water service before any peak-use charge. The total bill can be much higher where Fairfax County, Fairfax City, or Falls Church sewer service is billed through Fairfax Water, because sewer bases, sewer use, taxes, and local fees are set by those providers.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Fairfax Water does not own the sewer systems it bills as an agent. Fairfax County sewer consumption is billed at the provider's rate using the current billing-period water use or preceding winter-quarter water use, whichever is lower, to exclude summer outdoor water from sewer charges; Fairfax Water's current sewer page identifies $9.33 per 1,000 gallons and a meter-size base charge for the displayed Fairfax County schedule. City of Falls Church and City of Fairfax have separate base, consumption, minimum, tax, and winter-quarter rules. Customers using irrigation or other non-returned water may need a sewer-use meter or submeter under the local sewer provider's requirements.
- Meter reading
- Fairfax Water's standard residential process uses utility meter-reading personnel who read meters approximately one week before a quarterly bill is issued; customers may see an identified Fairfax Water employee in the neighborhood. FWCustomer.org displays usage and billing history, and the utility supports high-use notifications. Meters and remote registers are maintained by Fairfax Water; readings establish quarterly consumption and the winter-quarter baseline used for peak-use and many sewer calculations. The official materials reviewed do not claim universal AMI hourly reads for every account, so the defensible 2026 description is scheduled field reading with portal history and notifications.
- New-account deposit
- The reviewed Fairfax Water 2026 customer pages do not publish a universal residential security-deposit amount or credit-score waiver. The current rate schedule states that a $50 initial Account Charge appears on the first bill for administrative and field work; this is an account charge, not a refundable deposit. Customers with prior delinquency, unusual risk, or special service requirements should confirm any deposit or written-service condition with Customer Service at (703) 698-5800 before activation.
- Activation or transfer fee
- A $50 Account Charge appears on the initial Fairfax Water bill and covers establishing the new account, dispatching a field technician to turn on water, and taking the initial meter reading. New physical service connections have separate 2026 charges, including a $1,960 service-connection charge, plus any availability or local-facilities charges. Standard start/stop or transfer requests should be initiated through FWCustomer.org or Customer Service; a transfer is distinct from construction of a new tap.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Virginia
52%
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
- Fairfax Water (Fairfax County Water Authority) 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.