About water development fees and charges
Portland Water Bureau and Portland Permitting & Development collect three types of fees and charges as part of the permitting process:
- Water Review Fees pay for staff time to review and approve plans and permits.
- Install Fees pay for writing work orders, water service, hydrant, and main installations performed by the Portland Water Bureau.
- System Development Charges (SDCs) are one-time charges paid by customers when they get a new water meter (or increase the size of an existing meter). Money collected through SDCs are used to fund large Capital Improvement Projects, like the Bull Run Filtration Project. Capital Improvement Projects benefit existing and future customers. Money collected through SDCs from new customers for their share of the costs of system improvements is more equitable than raising rates on all customers to pay for the capital improvements are needed primarily to serve the new or increased demand.
Current fee and SDC schedules
These fees are associated with the review of development plans for land use reviews and for building permits and public works permits. These fees do not cover the costs of meter installation, backflow testing, or other costs covered in the next fee schedule provided below.
This fee schedule covers costs of the Portland Water Bureau, including writing work orders, Install fees, System Development Charges, backflow inspection and testing, permit-related document filing, and certain developer plan reviews. This schedule is adopted in the annual fee ordinance for the Portland Water Bureau and is subject to exceptions, limitations, and other conditions contained within the rate ordinance and City Code.
Water Rate Ordinance FY 2025-26
Cost sharing options
The Portland Water Bureau may cost-share the following projects with applicants:
- New water main extensions (Limitation on size and contribution)
- Upsized water mains when the existing main is undersized according to our current standards, and it's too small for the new development
- New public fire hydrants
- Water main connections from the public water system to privately constructed water mains ("Subdivisions")
If your project is eligible, you'll be responsible for 60% of the project costs. The Portland Water Bureau may cover 40% of the project costs.
The cost share program doesn't cover costs for installing, activating, or removing any services or service branches.
For more information about cost sharing, call the water service group at 503-823-7368, option 5.