Fairfax Water (Fairfax County Water Authority)

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

Fairfax Water (Fairfax County Water Authority) operates as a public water authority serving Fairfax County and Northern Virginia wholesale and retail service territory. Customers should use the provider’s current account-specific bill and official customer-service instructions as the final authority for deadlines, balances, and service requests.

The published water-rate framework is described as 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.. Bills are generated 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., and a typical residential cost reference is 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.. These descriptions are useful planning benchmarks; actual charges can change with meter size, usage, sewer averaging, local taxes, drought stages, or account-specific fees.

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 and infrastructure notes

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.