Why Does Water Cost Money?

Water is everywhere, we have two rivers that run through the City, two lakes just outside City limits and it rains about 50 inches a year in Cottage Grove - so why does it cost so much for water.  Water should be cheap because it just falls from the sky. 

If it was that easy.  The water that is all around us contains a variety of contaminants (manmade and naturally occurring) that would pose serious health risks to members of our community.  To eliminate those risks the State and Federal Government have established standards to protect the health of the public. 

Your tap water is treated to meet strict drinking water standards that are established by the State and Federal Government.  The standards are established for the protection of the health of all citizens.  The standards require that we test for over 100 contaminates and must meet about 90 different regulations.  Every year the City provides a report called the Consumer Confidence Drinking Water Quality Report which reports on how the water system has complied with the established standards.

Common Terms

Water refers to the water that comes out of your facet when you turn it on.

Wastewater means sewer, that is all the wastewater that goes down one of your drains in your home.

Storm Drainage means the water that collects as a result of storms.  When it rains the water that runs off your roof, driveway, streets or the ground is collected in myriad of pipes and taken discharged into a waterway.

Did You Know?

• Only 3 percent of the tap water we use on a typical day is used for drinking. The rest goes for outdoor watering, bathroom uses, clothes washing, etc.

• The City of Cottage Grove has over 65 miles of pipes underground to distribute drinking water.

• There are over 43 miles of sewer pipes that collect all the sewage in the City