Atlanta Watershed Management Water Meter & Sewer Fees (2026)

Inside Atlanta city limits, the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management (DWM) provides both water and sewer. A new single-family home with a 3/4-inch meter installed by the city pays about $2,295 in official one-time charges: $1,200 for the water meter installation, a $600 sewer capacity certification fee, $230 for sewer plan review and site inspection, a $250 sewer connection inspection and a $15 account fee (Atlanta Code, Appendix B – Fees; ATL311, Cost of Permit for Sewer Connection). An $80 refundable deposit is due when you open the account. Atlanta has no separate water or sewer impact fee. The city repealed those in 1995. The biggest caveat is the meter price: the codified schedule is dated October 1, 2015, and DWM does not post prices online, so get an invoice before you budget.

Atlanta connection fees at a glance

The table below lists every Atlanta row we recorded, with its source. It covers two kinds of charge. The water meter installation fee is DWM’s price for the meter itself, the tap on the main and the service line from the right-of-way to your property line (City Code Sec. 154-68). The code lists two city-installation prices per small meter (RR-SS and RR-LS) and a lower price when a private contractor installs. The sewer charges are permit and certification fees, not a capacity buy-in like a Texas impact fee. The meter rows are marked needs-review because of the 2015 date; the sewer rows match an ATL311 article updated in February 2025.

Worked example for a single-family home in Atlanta

Assumptions: one detached house on a lot inside city limits that has never been connected to city sewer, a 3/4-inch domestic meter, and no irrigation meter. The schedule gives two city-installation prices for this size: RR-SS at $1,200 and RR-LS at $2,000. On the 3/4-inch rows the code labels them “short body” and “long body” and gives no further explanation. Ask DWM which price applies to your lot.

City of Atlanta one-time charges for one house, 3/4-inch meter (sources: Atlanta Code, Appendix B – Fees, meter rows need review; ATL311 sewer permit costs; DWM Start My Service).

The arithmetic: scenario A is $1,200 + $600 + $230 + $250 + $15 = $2,295. Scenario B swaps in the $2,000 RR-LS price, giving $3,095. Scenario C uses the $400 private-installation price, giving $1,495. It looks lowest, but your contractor’s price for the tap and service line comes on top, plus an $85 right-of-way construction permit if the contractor digs in the street. A 1-inch meter adds $200 to scenario A ($1,400) and $300 to scenario B ($2,300); the private-installation price stays $400, and the deposit rises to $140.

Two situations change the sewer side. If the lot was connected to city sewer before, for example a teardown and rebuild, ATL311 says the $600 capacity certification applies to properties “not previously connected,” so it may not apply. If the lot sits in a capacity-limited sewer basin, DWM can require a capacity analysis. The optional flat analysis costs $2,245, and modeling beyond that is billed at actual cost.

What is not included in Atlanta fees

DWM installs the meter in the right-of-way. The DWM meter page says connecting your private water line to the meter is the customer’s job. On the sewer side, ATL311 says the listed prices exclude installation by a qualified contractor, and the owner pays for the sewer tap. So most of the real cost is private work:

• Water service line from the meter to the house: $30 to $150 per foot, about $50 typical (national estimate, trenching included). A 60-foot run at $50 is about $3,000.
• Sewer lateral from the house to the city sewer: $50 to $250 per foot, about $100 typical (national estimate, trenching included). Sixty feet at $100 is about $6,000. Rock or a street crossing raises it.
• Plumbing permit for the exterior lines: $100 to $1,300, about $300 typical (national estimate). This is separate from the DWM charges.
• Building permit and city development impact fees. Atlanta charges impact fees for transportation, parks, fire and police facilities at building permit. They are not utility fees and are not in the totals above.

The ranges come from our national benchmark set, not from Atlanta sources. See our guides to water service line cost, sewer lateral cost and tap fees vs. impact fees. Add the private work to the Atlanta fees with the calculator:

How and when Atlanta fees are paid

For a meter 2 inches or smaller on a single house, you file one application per meter with DWM Meter Applications and wait for an invoice. DWM says payments made before the invoice will likely be returned. Payment is due within 14 days of the application, and the meter must be paid in full before installation. The DWM meter purchase page then asks you to allow 15 weeks for installation. Inside the city you must show a City of Atlanta building permit for a domestic meter, and you pay a separate right-of-way fee to the city’s Department of Public Works/Office of Transportation. Contractor self-installations need a plan review by the DWM Office of Engineering Services first. Only the owner or the owner’s designated representative can buy a meter.

On the sewer side, the $230, $600 and $250 charges come with the sewer connection permit through DWM Site Development. If a city crew has to build the sewer connection, the code bills time and materials, with a minimum of $5,930. The $2,000 application fee for a new or extended water main applies only when the city must build a main, not to an ordinary lot on an existing street.

What could change in Atlanta

The main risk is an update to the meter schedule. The codified table is dated October 1, 2015. The next table in the same appendix shows “current” and “proposed” prices for re-establishing old meters, and some proposed prices are far higher: $1,405 instead of $86 for a 3/4-inch meter. We found no adopted increase for new meter installations, but an invoice is the only reliable number. The sewer figures match between the code and the ATL311 article updated February 26, 2025.

Common questions about Atlanta fees

Where to go next from Atlanta

In the Tennessee Valley, Huntsville Utilities tap and sewer access fees and KUB tap and connection fees in Knoxville also list gas and electric charges.

Compare Atlanta with other Southeast cities: Charlotte tap fees, Nashville tap fees, Charleston tap fees and Tampa tap fees, or browse the national tap fees by city table. Background reading: water meter installation cost, sewer tap fee and utility costs for new construction. For the full budget, use the utility connection cost calculator.

Official documents behind the Atlanta figures

• Code of Ordinances, Appendix B – Fees (water meter installation fees dated 10/1/2015; capacity certification; site development and sewer inspection fees; right-of-way construction permit), City of Atlanta, Supplement 107 Update 1. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Code of Ordinances Ch. 154, Art. III – Water (Secs. 154-67, 154-68, 154-114), City of Atlanta. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Land Development Code Part 19, Ch. 1 – Development Impact Fees (including the note on the 1995 repeal of water and wastewater connection fees), City of Atlanta. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Cost of Permit for Sewer Connection, ATL311, City of Atlanta (updated Feb 26, 2025). Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Meter Purchases, Department of Watershed Management. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Start My Service, Department of Watershed Management. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• National cost estimates: Utility Cost Guide benchmark methodology.