Calculate the cost of an Equivalent Tenement

An Equivalent Tenement is a standard measure used to assess the impact of a particular development or land type on Council’s water and sewerage systems, relative to a standard residential property.

The information on this page can help you calculate water, bulk water and sewer developer contributions for any development which has an existing or proposed connection to Council's water and/or sewerage systems.

Our Equivalent Tenement Policy

A standard residential property is considered to have an Equivalent Tenement value of one, which is equal to:

  • one standard water developer servicing charge.
  • one bulk water developer servicing charge.
  • one sewerage service charge.

Equivalent Tenement assessments for non-standard residential properties, commercial and industrial developments, however, are calculated by applying an Equivalent Tenement factor in accordance with Section 5 of the ET Policy.

View our Water and Sewer Equivalent Tenements Policy 2022

What are Section 64 contributions?

Water and Sewer developer contributions are applied under Section 64 of the Local Government Act 1993. This enables us to levy developer charges for water supply and sewerage.

These charges are an upfront charge, to recover part of the infrastructure costs from servicing new and existing developments. 

Developer servicing charges provide:

  1. A source of funding for infrastructure required for new urban development or growth.
  2. Pricing signals regarding the actual cost of urban development.

A Development Servicing Plan for both Water Supply and Sewerage needs to be prepared by any NSW Local Water Utilities (LWU) who propose to levy s64 charges for water supply and/or sewerage.

These Development Servicing Plan documents detail the calculation of developer charges and are required to be fair and transparent.