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Service Areas
The San Antonio Water System serves approximately 1 million people in
the urbanized part of Bexar County. This population includes approximately
325,944 water customers and 354,878 wastewater customers.
SAWS' service areas are established by its permits from state regulatory
authorities. The service area for water supply includes most (but not
all) of the City of San Antonio, several suburban municipalities, and
adjacent parts of Bexar County. In addition to serving its own retail
customers, SAWS also provides wholesale water supplies to several smaller
utility systems within this area boundary.
A larger and somewhat different area, following natural watersheds, is
defined for wastewater collection and treatment. SAWS is the only sewage
treatment agency in this area, and it charges a fee to the military bases
and suburban cities which maintain their own wastewater collection systems.
SAWS also provides collection and treatment services by contract to developments
outside its defined service area, to avoid unnecessary proliferation of
state wastewater discharge permits.
Extensions of SAWS' water and sewer systems are accomplished by a combination
of direct action by new subdivision developers and expansion of off-site
facilities by SAWS. First, subdivision developers are required to install
all of the water and sewer facilities within their development projects
at their own direct expense. The design and construction of these facilities
must be approved by SAWS, and the facilities are dedicated to the System
upon completion. Corresponding extension of off-site mains and expansion
of overall system capacity are then financed by the development "impact
fees" which are authorized by state law. These fees are enacted by
the San Antonio City Council, and they are based on the estimated average
water demand by various kinds of development. The impact fees are recalculated
every three years to finance projected system expansion needs based on
updated growth projections. This financing mechanism is designed to ensure
that new development "pays its own way," rather than being subsidized
by existing customers.
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