Before a house goes up on a tract near Lewisburg, someone pays for a water tap. A standard residential tap from Lewisburg Water & Wastewater, or LWW, costs $5,000 for water and $2,400 for sewer, which comes to $7,400 before deposits. Outside LWW's territory, the Marshall County Board of Public Utilities, or MCBPU, charges a different price for water and has a different approval process. Neither utility has unlimited capacity, and both are working on new supply from the Duck River. The tap fee is only one part of a parcel's value. The larger part is whether a utility will approve the homes you want to build.
The first number on the tract is a tap fee
The two utilities use the same basic structure. You pay to install the tap, and you pay a capacity fee for your share of the system. The amounts differ, and so does the type of service. The MCBPU figures below cover water only.
| Line item, 3/4-inch residential | Lewisburg Water & Wastewater | Marshall County Board of Public Utilities |
|---|---|---|
| Tap cost | $3,000 | $3,200 |
| Capacity fee | $2,000 | $2,500 |
| Other new-connection charges | $100 residential deposit, $40 service charge | $150 homeowner application and connection fee, plus $50 added to new tap fees |
| Sewer tap | $2,400 for a standard 4-inch residential tap | Not part of this fee schedule |
| Rough total shown above | $7,400 for water and sewer, before deposit and service charge | About $5,900 for water |
Lewisburg's figures come from LWW's Tap Charge Policy #1, effective November 20, 2024. The county figures come from the MCBPU rate and fee page, which shows the tap charge as board-approved on March 17, 2026, and the capacity fee on June 21, 2022.
Both schedules put a warning in fine print. If installing the tap costs more than the fee, the customer pays the difference. On rural frontage that can add real money. According to the September 14, 2026 LWW board minutes, the utility's own crews are replacing 3,000 feet of old galvanized line on Belfast–Farmington Road, a job that "will involve working through substantial amounts of rock."
Capacity fees also rise steeply with tap size. At LWW, a 1-inch water tap carries a $4,000 capacity fee, a 2-inch tap $12,000, and a 12-inch tap $125,000. The utility prices capacity as something it has a limited amount of, and in the city that is now the case.
Inside LWW's territory, the plant is close to its limit
The same September minutes give the August numbers. The water treatment plant ran an average of 21.2 hours a day, reached 92.0% of monthly capacity, and treated 114.1 million gallons, about 3.7 million gallons a day. The report also puts the three-month water loss average at 26.1%.
Demand is still coming in. Over the same month, the board recorded 11 residential water tap requests and 7 residential sewer requests.
That is the background to the moratorium. At a special called meeting on June 27, 2024, the LWW board extended indefinitely its moratorium on housing developments, according to The Marshall County Post. In March 2025, the Post described what it means:
"Lewisburg is under a water moratorium, which means we are not allowing any large subdivisions to be built."
So a single lot may still get a tap, but a tract priced on the assumption that it will become a subdivision needs something else. That something is new water supply, and it is not online yet.
LWW's new plant is still in design
LWW is planning a new water treatment plant and a new intake on the Duck River. On July 8, 2025, Guthrie Sales and Service won the bid for the pilot study and initial engineering. On October 28, 2025, the board approved accepting H2O Innovation's bid for Phase 2 design, subject to review of the final proposal by Wauford Engineering and Davis Law Firm. In January 2026, the board approved another $228,704 for the pilot test and for design of the new plant through 100% construction drawings.
At the April 14, 2026 meeting, Daniel Tribble and Greg Davenport of the Wauford Company told the board that the plant and intake projects were "moving forward without any major interruptions." They said the pilot had "successfully demonstrated that the H2O Innovation ceramic membranes perform well with Duck River water" and would finish within about two weeks. The August 24, 2026 board agenda included an amendment to the raw-water intake permitting-assistance agreement, capped at $70,000.
So LWW's new plant is still at the design and permitting stage. For a land buyer, added capacity in the city has no date attached yet, and a price per acre should reflect that.
In the county, the river sets the limit
On a tract outside LWW's territory, MCBPU is the water provider, and its new supply has a limit written into its state permit. The TDEC permit for the MCBPU project, effective May 3, 2022 through May 2, 2027, covers a 6-million-gallon-a-day river intake and a first-phase 3-million-gallon-a-day treatment plant that can expand to 6. It allows withdrawals of up to 2,100 gallons per minute and requires them to stop when the USGS gage at Milltown reaches 175 cubic feet per second. The permit projected that the plant would start up in 2024, a date that has since passed.
The work is still underway. J. Cumby Construction submitted the Phase 2 intake base bid of $5,423,000 in April 2025. MCBPU's October 20, 2026 board agenda still listed water treatment plant updates on the Phase 2 intake, settling basins, filter building and project timeline. The same agenda also listed the utility's Developer's Policy and the Hawthorn Farms Subdivision, formerly known as Warren Farms.
The river is also running low. At the request of the Duck River Agency, MCBPU has posted a notice adopting voluntary conservation measures for a "Stage 1 River Drought." The notice says MCBPU's area is in D1 drought conditions and that downstream utilities are seeing low river flows. Whenever the plant is finished, its supply will still depend on a flow reading at Milltown.
MCBPU has no published blanket moratorium. It handles growth one project at a time. Under its developer policy, a subdivision needs a water-availability review, an engineering review, a contract approved by the board, and any required system improvements paid for by the developer. The board can approve, modify or defer a proposal after staff review. The county fee schedule tells you what one tap costs. It does not tell you whether forty taps will be approved.
What this changes when you compare two tracts
For a land seller, the tract's best use depends on the water rules that apply to it. For a buyer, the price per acre on two neighboring listings can reflect very different development rights. The city is also still rezoning land for growth. According to the May 12, 2026 council minutes, the Lewisburg City Council voted 5–0 that day to rezone 1042 Veterans Parkway from Business Park to Industrial Park. Zoning decides what a parcel is allowed to become. Water decides how much of it can actually be built.
Before you price a tract around Lewisburg or make an offer on one, get these answers in writing:
- Which utility serves the parcel? LWW and MCBPU have different fees, different review processes and different supply projects.
- Is sewer available, or is the sewer tap part of the plan? LWW's $2,400 sewer tap is part of the city total. The MCBPU water figure does not include sewer.
- What tap size does the plan require? Capacity fees rise sharply above 3/4 inch.
- How does the moratorium apply to this plan? In LWW territory, ask the utility directly how it would treat the number of lots you have in mind.
- Will a subdivision need board review? On MCBPU water, plan for the availability review, the engineering review and a developer contract before counting on any lots.
- How much frontage and line work is involved? Installation costs above the tap fee are billed to the customer.
FAQ
Can I still get a single residential water tap from Lewisburg Water & Wastewater? LWW keeps posting residential tap fees and reported 11 residential water tap requests in August 2026. In March 2025, The Marshall County Post described the moratorium as applying to large subdivisions. To find out how your specific parcel and plan will be treated, ask LWW at 100 Water Street.
When will the new plants add capacity? LWW's plant is still in design and permitting, with no completion date set. For MCBPU, the October 20, 2026 agenda still listed the intake, settling basins, filter building and project timeline as active items.
Does the drought notice limit new connections? The MCBPU notice asks all water users to voluntarily cut non-essential use, including dust control at construction sites. It describes voluntary measures, not a halt on new taps.
This post is general information about published utility fees and policies. It is not legal or financial advice, so confirm the details of your own parcel with the utility and the right professionals before you act.
If you own acreage around Lewisburg and want to know what it is worth once water is part of the price, Ben Craig and Craig & Wheeler Realty & Auction can help you work out which utility serves the land, what can realistically be built on it, and whether a negotiated sale or an auction is the better way to sell it. Request a Free Valuation & Consultation.
