Clinton-based Connecticut Water Co. has asked state regulators to approve a 0.53% surcharge on customer bills to help fund a massive effort to remove toxic “forever chemicals” from drinking water sources across its service territory.
Clinton-based Connecticut Water Co. has asked state regulators to approve a 0.53% surcharge on customer bills to help fund a massive effort to remove toxic “forever chemicals” from drinking water sources across its service territory.
The utility filed a request with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Jan. 22, seeking approval of the surcharge. The company is working to address PFAS contamination at 35 water sources under a $241.7 million capital program to meet federal drinking water standards.
Connecticut Water has detected PFAS levels above the federal “maximum contaminant level” at 26 of its sources, according to documents filed with PURA. An additional nine sources have PFAS detected at 75% or more of the maximum level and are at risk of exceeding the limit.
The filing comes after PURA issued a ruling in December that determined the company’s proposed PFAS treatment technologies would improve water quality. Connecticut Water is now seeking to recover costs for in-progress or completed projects.
The company must eliminate PFAS above the maximum level by 2029 under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation.
The 35 projects span communities across Connecticut Water’s service area, with targeted completion dates through 2030.
The company grouped the projects into tiers based on PFAS levels and how critical each source is to the water system. The cost of the higher-priority projects, where water sources already exceed the federal limits, totals $195.3 million. Nine lower-priority projects totaling $46.4 million would address sources approaching the threshold.
Connecticut lawmakers last year approved a new law, Public Act 25-142, which took effect July 1, 2025, allowing water companies to impose a water quality and treatment surcharge to recover costs for capital projects needed to comply with state and federal drinking water regulations.
The surcharge is designed to phase in actual treatment expenses over time, helping avoid larger rate spikes that would occur if all eligible costs were added at once during traditional rate cases, which typically happen every three or four years. The mechanism allows utilities to recover approved infrastructure investments gradually as projects are completed, rather than waiting years to bundle all costs into a single rate increase.
Connecticut Water is owned by California-based H2O America, one of the largest investor-owned water utilities in the country.
It provides water service to more than 107,000 customers in 60 Connecticut municipalities.
