AWWA ACE91130

The state of Connecticut, in an effort to promote water quality in small water systems, enacted legislation that created seven areas, each with its own Water Utility Coordinating Committee composed of water companies and regional planning agencies. Each WUCC created exclusive service area boundaries for the water systems within its region. For some water utilities, small systems abutted or were encompassed by the utility's exclusive service area. The consensus by WUCC members was that a utility had a clear responsibility to serve but not necessarily pay for a failed utility that is within its service area; but the case for abutting failed small systems was less clear. In actuality, when state regulators determine that a small system cannot solve its problems and there is no financial aid available, then responsibility for the failing system will probably fall upon the shoulders of the nearest healthy neighbor, and be paid for by the receiving utility's customers. This paper discusses the experience of the Connecticut Water Company which has, in the past five years, taken on the responsibility for 10 small water systems with varying degrees of problems. A table shows cost figures, including investment cost per customer and net charge per customer, based on the takeover of the small systems. For systems that could be served by main extensions, costs are slightly lower than for systems that had remained as separate satellites.