AWWA CONS50885

Although not commonly thought of as a means of conservation, system development charges (SDC) have important conservation implications. At a minimum, if properly developed, and SDC provides a price signal to a builder (or developer) of the cost of water capacity provided to the structure the developer built. This price signal encourages builders to size their tap correctly rather than oversize the tap. Without the price signal, builders have an incentive to oversize taps and, as a result, utilities face higher potential capacity demands. Additional benefits are possible if non-traditional SDC forms, such as lot-sized SDCs, are used. This paper will review the purpose of an SDC, how SDCs relate to conservation, typical arguments against SDCs, who should bear the cost of capacity, and the benefits of lot-sized SDCs.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

01/01/1999

Number of Pages:

7

File Size:

1 file , 100 KB