To: Public Agency Members
From: National Office
Date: December 9, 2016
Subject: 2016 NACWA Index Survey Underway
Reference: MU 16-08

NACWA’s 2016 Cost of Clean Water – Service Charge Index Survey is currently underway. Many thanks to those members who have already responded. For those members who have not yet responded, your agency’s individualized one-page survey questionnaire was emailed to NACWA’s primary contact in mid to late November. If you need us to re-send your survey or need your login information to complete the survey online, please email Oliver Hamilton at ohamilton@nacwa.org.

NACWA has published the NACWA Index annually since 1992 to track average annual single-family residential service charge increases as measured against the rate of inflation. With the wide variety of rate structures implemented at the local level, the average annual single family residential charge for sewer services provides a unique and consistent benchmark to measure the cost of sewer services for the average family. The annual Index survey is relied upon by wastewater agencies and a wide variety of policymakers and experts. The Index survey results, which will be distributed to the membership in April 2017, will compare national service charge changes on an annual basis since the mid-1980s and include information on service charges according to geographic region.

The brief Index survey, which should take less than 15 minutes to complete, requests the average annual single-family residential charge for sewer services and service population of each NACWA utility respondent as well as information on future rate changes. The more responses NACWA receives the more representative the Index is of the wastewater treatment community as a whole, so if you have yet to send in your response, we encourage you to complete the survey by December 31.

2016 NACWA Index Survey Can Be Completed Online or by Hard Copy

Your agency’s individualized one-page survey questionnaire requesting information for 2016 was emailed to NACWA's primary contact. Your agency’s past survey responses (if applicable) are provided on the survey form along with the names of the person(s) who provided the information. If historical information is missing or inaccurate, please feel free to add or modify this data directly on the survey form. Changes will be reflected in this year’s NACWA Index.

Please complete the survey questionnaire online at www.cleanwatercentral.org/logon.asp or return the hard copy via fax to Mark Hoeke, NACWA’s contractor, at 202/318-1472 no later than December 31, 2016. In order to ensure consistency, the 2016 NACWA Index survey questionnaire should ideally be completed by the same individual who submitted information for your agency in the past. As always, individual agency responses are kept confidential.

Follow these steps to submit your survey response online at www.cleanwatercentral.org/logon.asp:

1. Go to CleanWater Central at http://www.cleanwatercentral.org/logon.asp.
2. Enter your User ID and password (listed on individual survey form) and then click on "login".
3. Complete the brief 2016 NACWA Index survey questionnaire, and click on "Submit".

Your Participation Is Encouraged!

If you have yet to respond, please take a moment to complete the Index survey questionnaire either online (http://www.cleanwatercentral.org/logon.asp) or via hard copy. Again, please fax completed hard copies to Mark Hoeke at 202/318-1472 no later than December 31, 2016. If you have any questions about the survey form or any of the historical data please contact NACWA’s contractor, Mark Hoeke, at 202/361-7446 or mhoeke@dfinet.ch, or NACWA’s Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or chornback@nacwa.org.