Water & Sewer Billing

On March 10, 2025, Council passed By-law 2025-11 to Impose Water Charges and Sewer Charges.

The Town remains committed to the Water Financial Plan, which provides a long-range strategy to help identify the cost of having a safe and sufficient water supply for the Town. This includes a plan for the repair or replacement of aging water infrastructure.

Why is my water bill suddenly very high?

This can be due to higher water consumption as a result of:

• A change in the household (more people, visitors)
• New appliances (lawn sprinklers, water-cooled air conditioner, heating system)
• There may be plumbing issues or leaks. To check for leaks, locate the “low flow indicator” – a small red triangle on your water meter. Make sure the water isn't running then check to see if the indicator is spinning. If it is, water is flowing through the meter indicating a leak. Property owners are responsible for all internal plumbing leaks.

Why are The Blue Mountains water and wastewater rates higher than the rates in many other municipalities?

• The Blue Mountains' long, thin and stretched out water distribution and sewage collection systems require more pumping stations, reservoirs and appurtenances. This increases the cost of maintaining the service.
• There are numerous ground elevation changes throughout the Town’s system as well. With respect to the Town’s water system, every 20 metres of vertical rise results in a new pressure zone, leading to higher operating and maintenance costs. For sanitary sewer purposes, more kilometres of pipe per unit results in the need for more pumping stations.
• Much of the Town’s water and wastewater system is installed in rock, increasing the capital costs significantly, and forcing more pumping stations to be installed. This results in higher operational costs.
• The Town has a long shoreline and low urban density. Therefore the Town must construct more kilometres of pipe per benefiting property than many other municipalities. More pipes in the ground mean higher costs to install and higher operational costs to flow the water from the Water Treatment Plant to water users.
• The Town’s water source, Georgian Bay, is a clean and reliable resource for drinking water. However, surface water sources do cost more per litre to treat than groundwater sources. This is because groundwater is not subject to the same level of contaminants as surface water. More potential contaminants equate to a more complex and costly treatment process.
• All of the costs associated with water and wastewater treatment must be recovered from the users that are benefitting from these services.

Detailed account information and e-billing sign-up for property taxes and utility bills are now available through the new Virtual Town Hall service portal. 

Please have your customer ID from a tax or utility bill and your name exactly as it appears on the bill handy when you login.

Alternately, tenants can directly sign up for eBilling to have their utility bills delivered to their inbox. 

Water and wastewater bills can be paid through a Pre-Authorized Payment Plan. To sign up for a Pre-Authorized Payment Plan, please complete the Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Application form. 

Pre-authorized payments have many benefits:

• No cheques to write out
• Save on postage and transportation
• You don’t have to keep track of due dates or payments
• Avoid paying a penalty for missing a due date

Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Details

Water and Wastewater bills will be sent bi-monthly (January, March, May, July, September, November) or semi-annually for vacant lots (June and December), indicating the amount to be withdrawn on the due date.

Important Notes:

• Once you enroll in the Pre-Authorized Payment Plan you do not have to reapply every year; 
• Those on Pre-Authorized Payments will continue to receive Utility bills for your records;
• If you've sold your property, you will receive a final bill to the date of closing. The final bill will be processed through Pre-Authorized Payment and then the account will be closed. 

Can't remember if you signed up for Pre-Authorized Payments?

Please check your utility bill. It will say on the stub:

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Withdrawal or Information Change

If you have information changes, sell your property, or want to withdraw from the pre-authorized payment Plan, please notify the Town in person or in writing by the 1st day of the month.

Have questions about payment options?

Please see below for more information on these and other payment options.

Pre-Authorized Payment Plan

The Town offers a Pre-Authorized Payment Plan for water and/or wastewater customers. To sign up for a Pre-Authorized Payment Plan, please complete the Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Application form. For more information, please see above. 

Online Banking

To set up online banking, search ‘Payees’ for Blue Mountains Town of (Utilities). When entering your account number, use all 12 digits, leaving out the decimal. Please note that if you have your taxes and water/wastewater set up for payment via internet, always ensure to select your ‘Utilities’ account when making water and/or wastewater payments and not your ‘Tax’ account. After the first instance, there is a ‘Transfer Fee’ of $20 (per instance) for incorrect payments.

At Your Bank

Ensure the teller selects Blue Mountains Town of (Utilities) and not your Tax account. After the first instance, there is a ‘Transfer Fee’ of $20 (per instance) for incorrect payments.

By Mail

Send your cheque/money order payable to The Blue Mountains to:
Town of The Blue Mountains
Main Floor - Finance
32 Mill Street, PO Box 310
Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0.

Please include a payment stub, or indicate the account number on the payment. Please mail your cheque to Town Hall early enough to be received before the deadline. Cheques may be post-dated to ensure timely payment processing.

In Person

At the ‘Finance’ Reception Desk on the Main Floor at Town Hall, located at 32 Mill Street, Thornbury. Office Hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Payment by debit card is accepted. Please note that Credit Cards are not accepted. There is a box marked ‘After Hours Mail’ outside the east doors where you can drop cheque/money order payments.

If you would like to change where your property tax bill and/or utility bill is mailed, please complete the Change of Mailing Address Form.

Penalty in the amount of 1.25 percent will be added on the 31^st of every month to outstanding balances. 

The fee for a Water Certificate is $65.00.

Please mail any Water Certificate request letters via courier or mail to the following address:

Town of The Blue Mountains
Main Floor – Finance
32 Mill Street, PO Box 310
Thornbury ON, N0H 2P0

The Town of The Blue Mountains now bills and Infrastructure Renewal Fee for any property owner with an unconnected vacant lot fronting municipal water and/or wastewater services. These bills are sent out twice a year.

Water Fees and Charges By-Law

Some frequently asked questions regarding this Infrastructure Renewal Fee are listed below.

Why did I receive a bill when I am not connected to water and/or wastewater?

When infrastructure for water and wastewater is installed, it has to be designed:

• To accommodate all potential future homes that may at some point be built on properties along the length of the system; and
• To allow all homes along the length of the system to easily connect to the water and wastewater systems as they are built.

Every property is treated equally as the water and wastewater systems are built, taking into consideration any and all buildable lots that may connect to the system. The system cannot be customized for each property as they are built. 

The Infrastructure Renewal Fee ensures that every lot that the system had to be built to potentially service, contributes to the future cost of replacing the system when needed.

How is the rate calculated?

The Infrastructure Renewal Fee is calculated using the annual costs associated with infrastructure replacement. Debt financing (the principal and interest payable on the amount borrowed to build the system), capital costs (the costs to build new or replace assets) and contributions to the asset replacement reserve funds (money the Municipality is setting aside to rebuild or replace the system) are considered infrastructure replacement costs.

Fees resulting from water use are not included in the Infrastructure Renewal Fee, since vacant lots are not current water users.

Do all connected users pay this fee as well?

The fee is designated for the replacement of water and wastewater infrastructure and is therefore billed equally to all users, regardless of whether they are currently connected to water and wastewater services.

How often will I receive a bill?

The utility bills for unconnected vacant lots will be sent semi-annually and will include 6 months’ worth of fees on each bill.

What are my property taxes used for?

The property tax levy cannot be used to pay for water and wastewater services. Property taxes are used to pay for items not related to utilities such as roads, garbage pickup, fire and police services. Water and wastewater expenses must be paid separately as not every taxpayer has water and wastewater services to their home.

What will the fees be used for?

The fees will be used strictly for the replacement of water and wastewater infrastructure. They will be held in two reserve funds:

1. The Water Asset Replacement Reserve Fund; and
2. The Wastewater Asset Replacement Reserve Fund.

These Reserve Funds will earn interest and are reported on, annually.

Why is the fee not based on lot size?

After careful consideration and study, Council feels that the fairest methodology for calculating charges related to the expansion of water and wastewater systems to new areas is by using a “per unit” methodology, with an individual “lot” being the “unit”.

Water and wastewater accounts are held in the name of the registered property owner only. As the owner of the property, you assume full responsibility for any water and/or wastewater charges and any associated charges that are billed to the property.

If it is your preference, you can arrange to have the utility bill sent under your name in care of the tenant at the tenant’s address by completing a Property Owner Tenant Account Guarantee Form. This agreement can only be put into effect or removed from the account at the beginning or end of a billing period (January 1, March 1, May 1, July 1, September 1, or November 1). The account will need to be current (have a $0.00 balance) when a tenant is added.

If the tenant fails to pay this account, the outstanding amount will be added to your property tax account, to be collected in the same manner as municipal taxes.

It is the responsibility of the property owner to notify the Town of any changes to the property’s tenancy.

To add a tenant to your account:

Please complete the Property Owner Tenant Account Guarantee Form. If this form is not received or the tenant information is incorrect, any and all utility bills for the subject property will be sent to the property owner.

Please note that the Town is not responsible for contacting the owner for tenants’ arrears.