General Questions

A water co-op is a business entity (e.g., utility-providing corporation) that is owned and controlled by members that are customers of the system (water consumers). In our case, prospective members included all of the current customers of Burton Water Company. Our Co-op is governed by an unpaid Board of Directors that is elected from and by the membership. The Board is responsible for stewarding the Co-op and overseeing its operations. The Board also hires employees and contractors to run the day-to-day operations of the water system.

Cooperative ownership of our water means that the community decides how our resources are managed, how the system is maintained and improved, and where to allocate any surplus revenue. It also allows the Board of Directors to set rates, based on information and analysis that is shared with the membership. It is also a unique self-governance opportunity and a new structure that will facilitate stronger community connections and resilience and greater capacity to control future projects that will benefit our community.

The organization of the Co-op is documented in its Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. The Co-op is legally structured as a non-profit water association, under IRC 501(c)(12). As a cooperative, instead of capital stock, it has Connections and Memberships. A Connection is a service connection to the water system. A membership provides voting rights within the Co-op and may be issued to a person or entity (such as a trust or corporation) that owns a property served by the Co-op. If a person (or entity) owns multiple parcels or has multiple Connections, only one Membership is issued to the owner. Likewise, only one Membership may be issued to joint owners of a parcel. For joint owners or owners of multiple connections, only one designated person may cast one vote in Co-op matters.

The Co-op does not and can not charge members above the cost of service and capital improvements, while an investor-owned company is able to charge customers for the cost of service plus a rate of return (i.e., profit) for its investors. Although customer rates for a private company are subject to WUTC approval, typically a 15% rate of return on investment is permitted. Also, as a non-profit, the Co-op does not pay federal income taxes or state property taxes and can also take advantage of other state tax incentives for non-profit water associations. These savings are passed through to members.

Maury Mutual, Heights Water, Dockton Water, and Westside Water are all cooperatively owned. The Governance Committee interviewed leaders and reviewed bylaws and other documents from those water systems during our feasibility study period to inform the Burton Water Co-op’s governance model.

Anyone who owned property that had an existing connection served by the Burton Water Company was eligible to become a member of the Burton Water Cooperative when the Co-op began operations.

Yes, you must be a member to receive water service from the Co-op. You can become a member by completing a membership agreement. If you do not complete a membership agreement, you will automatically become a member by accepting water service from the Co-op. Everyone receiving water from the Co-op is subject to the Co-op’s Bylaws, Rules and Regulations, and Policies, and must pay all applicable charges and fees, even if they did not sign a membership agreement. As long as you pay your bills (including the one-time Connection Charge), your water will not be shut off.

The Washington State Department of Ecology limits annual water extraction volume based upon water rights. The Washington State Department of Health requires a minimum daily water volume allocation per residence. Dividing the former by the latter yields a maximum number of services. For the Co-op’s current operations, this sets a limit of 415 connections. Washington State law requires the Co-op to operate within this allocation. Our water rights are fully allocated at this time and we cannot provide new connections.
In the future, if there is available capacity from relinquished Ready-to-Serve Commitments or Connections, or if the Board determines that the Co-op has sufficient water supply, consistent with DOH requirements and prudent operation, it may offer new Connections at a price established by the Board. At that time, the Board will establish an outreach plan to current customers and unserved parcel owners in the service area and may establish an application process, selection criteria, and a waiting list for new connections.

Since Ready-to-Serve commitments create an obligation to provide water, they are counted in our DOH limit of 415 connections. The Co-op’s only source of operating income comes from connection charges and water usage charges. For the Co-op, Ready-to-Serve commitments generate less revenue than active connections (because they have no usage charges) while restricting availability for new customers. Our current financial plan relies on income from all available connections, including Ready-to-Serve.

Each single-family home, each dwelling unit in a multifamily building, and each nonresidential building the water system serves counts as a connection. A dwelling unit is a separate residential living unit that provides complete independent living facilities for one or more persons and includes permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation. The WA DOH Water System Design Manual (WSDM) considers an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) a separate connection if the ADU is physically separate from the main residence (i.e. a detached ADU, or DADU). If the ADU is physically located within the main residence, the ADU is not counted as a separate connection and may be added to an existing connection. If a DADU is physically separate from the main residence, it may not be added to an existing connection.

You can volunteer to join either the membership, technical, or finance committee.

Billing Questions

You can view and pay your bill by credit/debit card or ACH (e-check) online through Nexbillpay or by phone at 866-583-1176. Use your 4-digit Co-op account number to access your account. There is a service charge for online payments.

You can also pay by check, payable to Burton Water Cooperative. Mail your payment to PO Box 1938, Vashon, WA 98070 or drop your payment off at the Burton Store. We cannot accept cash payments. If you have bill-pay service from your bank, you can direct them to mail your payment to our PO Box. Please make sure that your account number is written on your check. There is no service charge for checks sent directly to the Co-op (not through Nexbillpay).

You can view your current bill and payment history online through Nexbillpay, even if you send your payments directly to the Co-op. Note that there may be a few days delay before you see your payments reported on Nexbillpay.

Responding to member requests, we decided to provide a convenient online payment option. Nexbillpay (our online payment processor) charges a reasonable fee for online payments that is competitive with other online payment processors. We felt that it was fair to pass that cost through to users of the service. The Co-op does not receive any portion of the service fee, nor are we charged any additional fees for the service.

You can set up auto-pay through the Nexbillpay payment portal after you have successfully made your first electronic payment. You will continue to receive regular billing notices from us (mailed bill cards and/or email notices) at the beginning of every other month. Nexbillpay will send you a courtesy email notification around the 26th of each month and then charge your account on the 28th of the month. On months that we do not bill, you will still receive a courtesy email notification from Nexbillpay around the 26th indicating your account balance (typically $0).

You can view your payment and usage history on the Nexbillpay payment portal, even if you don’t pay your bill through Nexbillpay. Use your Co-op 4-digit account number to login to your account.

Please check your spam filter. Billing email notices are sent out around the first of every other month (February, April, June, August, October, and December) from burton.water.billing@gmail.com. You can contact operator@burtonwater.org with your correct email address and we will make sure our records are updated.

If we have an email address on file for you, we may send you an additional email notice as well as a bill card through the mail. Let us know if you want us to stop this additional email notification service.

Currently, our billing system only allows us to send bills to one mailing address and one email address.

The account will be in your name and prompt payment for all charges is your responsibility as an owner/member; however, the bill can be sent wherever you want. We can mail a bill card to the service address and also send an email to you, if that’s helpful, so you can confirm that bills are being paid. You can also view and make payments through our online payment portal.
We can accept payments either from you or your renter and apply them to your account. However, the Co-op does not does not do credit checks nor take responsibility for renter payments. That is the member’s responsibility. If the account has a balance due when the renter moves out, it is the member’s responsibility to pay the Co-op all amounts due, including any late charges.
We cannot split charges on your bill. You must make separate arrangements with your tenant for any payment agreement you wish to make. For example, if you decide to pay capital improvements and connection charges and have the tenant pay base and usage charges, you could credit that amount from their monthly rent if they pay the water bill directly to the Co-op.

While our base rate is lower than the rate charged by Burton Water Company, due to lower operating costs, we have added a Capital Improvement Charge to pay for needed improvements to our water system that were approved by the membership.

We created the Burton Water Community Fund (BWCF) to help Co-op members who experience financial challenges due to the increased monthly water costs associated with the new Co-op ownership. You can find out the requirements for receiving assistance and apply here.

You can add a $5 or $10 recurring donation to your bi-monthly water bill or make a one-time donation to the fund. More information is available here.

Unfortunately BWCF donations (or any other payments to the Co-op) are not tax deductible. While we are a 501(c)(12) non-profit organization, we are not a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Money paid into the Co-op is used to provide services to our members.

Connection Charges are one-time charges assessed to each water connection to the system. These funds financed start-up costs of the Co-op and helped fund initial reserve accounts for operations, debt service, short-lived asset replacement, and capital improvements. If you sell or transfer your property to another owner, all unpaid Connection Charges must be paid in full (even if you are on an extended payment plan) before the new owner can receive water service. Once a Connection Charge has been fully paid, future owners will not be charged another Connection Charge. That is an added value that transfers with your property when you sell it. The new owner will only be charged a membership fee to set up a new account.

Capital Improvement Charges cover Co-op funded capital improvement projects and pay for debt service of our 40-year USDA construction loan for major system improvements. This bi-monthly charge will continue at least until the USDA construction loan is paid off.

Base and Usage Charges cover operating expenses and our USDA purchase loan debt service. Base Charges are fixed bi-monthly charges to cover operating expenses and debt service for our USDA loan to fund the purchase of Burton Water. Usage charges are variable charges, based on actual water usage during each two-month billing period.

Base, usage, capital improvements, and connection charges are not combined into a single charge, based solely on usage because:

  1. Usage is seasonally variable (more water is used during summer months) but most of our expenses (such as debt service) are fixed and do not vary month-to-month. The Co-op needs a stable source of revenue that can be counted on month-to-month and year-to-year.
  2. Most of the costs associated with the Co-op are not directly related to the amount of water distributed. Loan payments for purchase of the water system, capital improvements, and general overhead costs are fixed and do not vary with water usage.
  3. Certain charges, such as the Capital Improvements Charge, are specifically earmarked to fund projects that improve overall system reliability and provide increased fire suppression capabilities, independent of water usage. 
  4. The Co-op water system benefits all members, regardless of the amount of water each member uses and it is appropriate for everyone with a connection to the system to share equally in the fixed costs associated with operating the business and improving the system.

We do not separately itemize utility taxes or King County Right of Way fees on our bills. These taxes and fees are calculated and paid as a separate operating expense, taking advantage of any deductible capital improvement expenses we are allowed by the State or King County.

King County imposes a franchise fee for utilities using its right-of-way, essentially an annual rent for this privilege. The fee is designed to compensate the county for the use of its property and is paid by utilities like water, sewer, gas, and electric companies. Because we have water mains located within the right-of-way of county roads in our service area, we are required by the county to negotiate a franchise agreement and pay a franchise fee. The county allows a credit against the franchise fee for costs incurred by the Co-op for fire suppression water facilities. We intend to apply our fire flow capital improvements expenses to this credit, and a portion of our capital improvements charge is allocated towards those costs.

Turning on or off your water requires a service call to your property by one of our system operators to operate the main shut-off valve to your service, read your water meter, and verify that the water is turned off (or on).

Operations

No fluorine is added to our water. Small amounts of chlorine as sodium hypochlorite are added to water, as required by the Washington Department of Health, to prevent the growth of bacteria.

We follow the water quality monitoring schedule set for us by the Washington Department of Health – Office of Drinking Water. We currently test daily for chlorine residual at two locations; yearly for disinfection byproducts(THM and HAA5) and nitrate; monthly for coliform bacteria; every 3 years for herbicides, pesticides, and volatile organics.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manmade chemicals that are toxic and can build up in the environment and in humans. PFAS can enter the water system through industrial release to water, air, or soil; discharges from sewage treatment plants; land application of contaminated sludge; leaching from landfills; and use of certain firefighting foams. These chemicals do not break down in the environment. We have tested our water and have not found significant amounts of PFAS. New EPA requirements require regular monitoring for PFAS and we follow those requirements.

Capitol Improvements

We are planning a number of capital improvement projects, as summarized below:

  • Distribution system pipe replacements. Starting later in 2025, we will be replacing a significant portion of our distribution pipe network to improve our fire suppression water facilities and increase the overall reliability of our water system. The pipe replacement project will upsize several portions of the system to enhance fire flow capacity throughout much of our system. A new 6-inch diameter pipe loop will be created by connecting existing pipe on 107th Ave and Vashon Highway via 228th St. Small diameter pipe on the Burton Peninsula will be replaced with 6-inch pipe to create a continuous 6-inch loop to meet King County fire suppression standards. Additional fire hydrants will be added throughout much of the system as the pipe system is improved. Portions of the existing pipe network are of a material (e.g., steel or asbestos cement) or age (at the end of or beyond its expected lifetime) that could pose a potential risk for failure. Proactively upgrading these pipes before failure occurs is an added benefit of this project to improve the overall reliability of our system. Most of these system improvements will be completed with USDA construction loan funding. Subsequent incremental improvements to the pipe network will be completed in other areas over time with Co-op generated funds.
  • Chlorination system upgrade. The chlorination delivery system will be modernized to current regulatory standards to achieve adequate contact time for efficient disinfection. This will be a Co-op funded project.
  • System pressure improvements. Currently, the upper elevation portion of the system (generally west of 107th Ave) is under deficient pressure because of the current gravity-flow nature of the system. This project will add a booster pump at the well source area and re-plumb the large storage tank on 232nd St to provide for system pressure of at least 30 psi (pounds per square inch) in the upper portion of the system to meet current King County standards. Pressure reducing valves will be added to the main lines as they descend the Burton hill to keep the pressure in the lower elevation part of the system from being excessive. This project will be completed only after the old steel and asbestos cement main trunk lines in the upper part of the system (which have never been subjected to increased pressures) have been replaced.
  • Maps and additional details of planned capital improvements can be found in the following documents:

To decide which capital improvement projects to complete, we started with a commissioned Capital Needs Assessment (CNA), completed by our contracted engineers at Northwest Water Systems. The CNA identified a number of improvements over a 1- to 20-year timeframe needed to keep the system operating efficiently and/or to satisfy current regulatory requirements. We discussed the findings of the CNA with the previous system owners and the system Operator. We then formed a working group made up of members of the feasibility period Operations (now Technical) Committee, Finance Committee, and the System Operator. Projects were selected and prioritized based on three criteria: (1) regulatory requirements (projects that we are simply required to do to maintain regulatory compliance); (2) operational resiliency and risk management (projects that are prudent to do to minimize risk of significant system failure or underperformance); and (3) fire flow improvements (projects that are not strictly required but that will increase the performance of the system for resiliency in emergency situations).

Major projects will be financed through a 40-year low-interest loan provided by the USDA Rural Development Agency. Other smaller projects are funded directly by the Co-op. Funds collected through Capital Improvement and Connection Charges are used for USDA loan debt service and for Co-op funded projects.

Additional Questions?

Submit them here or contact operator@burtonwater.org.