Where Does Your Dollar Go? The Cost of Delivering Water to Your Tap in 2026

• February 24, 2026 | Category: Customer Service, Your Water

As you might imagine, there are significant expenses associated with storing, treating, and transporting water for people to use. These costs are the basis for fees that all water providers charge, with the goal of ensuring that charges are allocated in a fair manner. Medford Water has made it our mission to provide a reliable, high-quality water supply at the best value, and we plan ahead to determine what projects are necessary to keep up with growth and to continue to serve our nearly 150,000 customers.

We conduct annual third-party studies to determine the revenue necessary to fund replacement of aging infrastructure (parts of our system are over 100 years old), and improvements and expansion of existing facilities. New resilient facilities that store, treat, and transport water also need to be constructed. Inflationary increases in operating costs—such as electricity and treatment chemicals—are a factor as well. Our recent annual rate study showed that rate modifications are required to meet revenue needs for this ongoing work, and rate modifications will go into effect March 1, 2026.

We receive no support from local taxes and our revenues do not support other City of Medford work; revenue from water rates and other fees stay with us to be invested in the water system.

So where does your dollar go? See the image below for a breakdown.

Questions?

See the links below for Water Rates FAQs that have more information on what water rates pay for and why modifications are necessary, and full rate schedules for all customer groups that will take effect March 1, 2026. You may also contact us at 541-774-2430.