Can Your Raw Land Be Served? How to Check Water and Sewer Before You Commit

Why is a nearby pipe not enough to serve my land?

A pipe at the property line does not mean the system has room for your project. Capacity problems often show up only after the lots are drawn, when the provider runs your demand through its model.

A cheap tract can stop being cheap once off-site mains, storage or treatment upgrades land on your side of the ledger.

What does a CCN tell you, and what does it not?

It tells you who has to serve you, not who pays. In Texas, the Public Utility Commission keeps the certificates of convenience and necessity (CCNs) for water and sewer, and its online CCN viewer shows which provider holds the area your tract sits in.

Under Texas Water Code §13.250 (opens in a new tab), a CCN holder must serve every consumer within its certified area and render continuous and adequate service. That duty does not settle who funds the line extension, the tank or the plant capacity your project needs. The provider's tariff and your service agreement do.

If your tract sits outside any CCN, or across a boundary between two providers, that changes the conversation. Our post on CCN territory disputes covers what to check when land crosses a provider line.

What should you ask the utility before you close?

Ask whether it can serve your demand, what it will take, and who builds and pays for each piece. Many providers answer that with a feasibility or capacity study. The result can range from "sign up and connect" to upsized lines, new storage, extra water supply, or a wait until the provider finishes its own upgrade.

Site layout matters as much as capacity. If the sewer is at the road and your site drains away from it, toward a creek or a floodplain, you may need a lift station and force main before the first building connects.

For a deeper look at what these studies contain, see what a utility feasibility study actually tells you.

How do you make a request that gets a useful answer?

Bring a tract map that shows exactly what you will build, and the phasing.

• Show lot counts or building areas by phase, not a single total.
• Have your engineer calculate water and sewer demand before the request goes in. A provider's default demand assumptions can be higher than your real use, which pushes up meter and tap sizes.
• Say whether buildings are shells or finished space. A shell warehouse uses far less water than its floor area suggests.
• Take the same concept plan to the fire code official at the same time.

What happens to fire protection on raw land?

Fire flow often decides the water design more than drinking demand does. Where the local fire code official has adopted the International Fire Code, IFC Appendix B (opens in a new tab) sets required fire flow and duration by the building's fire-flow calculation area and construction type.

The arithmetic grows fast. A fire flow of 1,500 gallons per minute for two hours is 180,000 gallons that the system or an on-site tank must deliver.

Sprinklers change the picture. The IFC requires them in many commercial occupancies, such as factories, stores and storage buildings, once a fire area exceeds 12,000 square feet, and a sprinklered building can qualify for a lower required fire flow. Check the edition and local amendments your jurisdiction adopted.

Where there is no water system that can carry fire flow, NFPA 1142, the standard on water supplies for suburban and rural firefighting, sizes a minimum on-site supply from the structure's volume, occupancy hazard and construction class. Our guide to a fire flow analysis for a Texas development walks through the calculation.

What if the utility answer is too costly or a no?

You may be able to serve the site yourself, but that is its own permit path.

On sewer, a new treatment plant that discharges needs a TCEQ permit, and TCEQ applies its regionalization policy for wastewater (opens in a new tab). If an existing plant or collection system within three miles has capacity, you must contact it and submit an analysis comparing the cost of connecting with the cost of building and running your own plant.

TCEQ says a nearby system is not an automatic basis for denial. An exception can rest on cost, affordable rates or other relevant factors, or on a refusal of service from the nearby system. Keep copies of every request and reply.

Smaller flows may fit an on-site sewage facility instead. Under 30 TAC §285.2 (opens in a new tab), an OSSF produces no more than 5,000 gallons of waste a day.

On water, a private supply can become a public water system. Under 30 TAC §290.38 (opens in a new tab), a system with at least 15 service connections, or serving at least 25 people at least 60 days a year, is a public water system and must meet TCEQ's Chapter 290 rules.

A groundwater well also answers to the local groundwater conservation district, if there is one, under its own rules and Texas Water Code Chapter 36. Rainwater can carry low-demand sites with large roofs, but if it serves the public it still falls under Chapter 290.

Whose money is at risk in the service agreement?

Read the agreement for who builds, who owns and when fees are due. These terms shape your pro forma as much as the land price does.

• Who designs and builds the mains, and to whose standards?
• Which easements must you give, and how wide?
• Are tanks, treatment capacity and connection fees all spelled out?
• Are connection fees due up front, or as each building connects? Paying as you build ties the cost to sales.
• Where does ownership stop? Some providers want a master meter with everything on site private. Others want easements across the whole tract.

If you self-serve, plan for the operator, the power bill and the parts for as long as the system runs. Name the HOA, district or owner who will take it over, and design the plant so that owner can run it.

Is your tract ready for a purchase decision?

Each no is a question to settle before closing.

1. Do you know which CCN, if any, covers the tract for water and for sewer?
2. Has the provider answered a written request based on your concept plan and phasing?
3. Do you know who pays for off-site mains, storage and treatment capacity?
4. Has the fire code official confirmed the required fire flow, or the on-site supply?
5. If service is uncertain, have you priced a self-serve option, including the TCEQ regionalization step?
6. Is the service agreement's fee timing built into your model?

This post grew out of an episode of our Live Show, which you can watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab).

A note on limits: this is general education on Texas rules, current as of October 2026. Provider tariffs, fire code adoptions and groundwater district rules vary by place, and the provider, TCEQ and your fire code official have the final word.

Frequently asked questions

What is a CCN?

A certificate of convenience and necessity is the service area where a Texas water or sewer provider must serve. The PUC's CCN viewer shows the boundaries. It does not say who pays for upgrades.

Can I build my own sewer plant if a city sewer is nearby?

Possibly. If a plant or collection system within three miles has capacity, TCEQ expects you to ask it for service and compare the cost of connecting with the cost of your own plant. A nearby system alone is not an automatic denial.

Does a private well need TCEQ approval?

If it serves at least 15 connections, or at least 25 people at least 60 days a year, it is a public water system under Chapter 290. Check the groundwater district's permit and spacing rules too.

I'm a developer in Texas looking at 10 acres of commercial land, and the water provider's upgrade list is long. What should I check first?

Ask what each item buys and who owns it afterward, then compare the total against your whole project, not the land price alone. If it does not work, price a self-serve option with its permit steps before you commit.

I'm a civil engineer drawing lots around a connection the utility has not confirmed. Should I keep going?

Hold the layout. An unconfirmed connection, or a lift station you did not plan for, can change lot lines, street grades and the drainage plan. Get capacity and terms confirmed first.

Related resources

• How to Evaluate Wastewater Utility Options Before You Close on Land (Connect, Build, or Wait)
• What does TCEQ need before it approves a new public water system for a Texas subdivision?
• When does a Texas development need a municipal utility district (MUD), and what comes before the TCEQ petition?
• Austin Water Service Extension Requests: Who Pays for Off Site Water, Wastewater, and Reclaimed Water Improvements?

Not sure your land can be served?

Send us the tract and your concept plan. We will help work out the water, sewer and fire flow requirements and the most workable path before you commit.

We specialize in:

• Water and wastewater due diligence
• Utility demand and service requests
• Fire flow analysis and fire water supply
• Public water system design
• Wastewater treatment plant permitting and design
• Site civil engineering for land development

Modern Engineering Solutions, McKinney, Texas. Contact: (214) 833-6748 or mod-eng.com