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NACWA is making minor corrections to its 2012 NACWA Service Charge Index (NACWA Index) survey report. These changes will impact key national values and values for EPA Region 8. Subsequent to completing the NACWA Index report, a NACWA member in Region 8 informed us that a different average charge should be used for their utility due to a change in methodology. While the national values changed marginally, the most significant impact will be for Region 8 members.

This Member Update provides a brief summary of the changes to the 2012 NACWA Index. NACWA is working to change the final report accordingly, but wanted to alert the membership to the revisions as soon as possible.

Summary of Revisions to 2012 NACWA Index

Calculating average annual sewer service charges can be complicated and minor changes in methodology or underlying assumptions can have major impacts on the final values. Following the release of the 2012 NACWA Index, a NACWA member raised concerns about the values for Region 8, which indicated a significant decline in service charge between 2011 and 2012. Based on clarifications from one of NACWA’s members in Region 8, including information on a significant reduction in the estimated water use for the largest community served by the member, it was determined that the service charge reported for that community should change.

Changing that community’s NACWA Index service charge results in the following changes to the survey report:

• National NACWA Index changes from 399.4 to 400.3*
• Region 8 index for 2012 changes from 173.3 to 213.4*
• National average service charge changes from $410.33 to $411.34
• Region 8 average service charge changes from $178.07 to $219.23.

Though NACWA often excludes communities from year-to-year comparisons when calculation methodologies change, NACWA is including the new value for the community in Region 8 and is correcting the year-to-year values in the 2012 NACWA Index as follows:

• Change in the national NACWA Index increases from 2.8% to 3.1% for 2011 to 2012
• Change in the Region 8 Index for 2011 to 2012 increases from -18.8% to 0.1% (the NACWA Index is population-weighted and the large size of the community significantly influenced the region's index value).

If you have any questions, contact Chris Hornback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

*Index values track changes in service charge relative to the base year of 1985 (index value of 100).