A buyer closing on a home in the Country Club area of Camano Island pays the Camano Water Association a $1,000 membership transfer fee. If the house has no backflow prevention device, the buyer also pays $1,200 to have one installed. A buyer in the Camano Vista Water District pays a $100 transfer fee. A buyer of an existing member property in the Camano West Water Association pays $2,000. All three are on the same island, all three are residential, and no listing filter tells them apart.
Camano doesn't have one water utility. Island County's water utility roster from May 2026 lists Camano water systems as separate Group A systems, each with its own connection count. Camano Water Association has 1,202 connections, Camano Co-op Water & Power Co. has 558, Camano Vista Water District has 197, and Camano Hills Water Company has 134. Each system sets its own fees, approves its own connections and plans its own repairs. On this island, the water a property draws from is part of what it costs. For a vacant lot, it can be the biggest number after the land itself.
The fee that shows up at closing
For a home that's already connected, the cost shows up as a transfer charge paid to the association. Most buyers first see it on a settlement statement. Here is what each system's published schedule shows.
| Water system | Buyer transfer fee | Other published buyer or seller charges | Ongoing cost basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camano Water Association | $1,000, paid by buyer | $1,200 backflow installation if absent, paid by buyer; $100 final meter reading, paid by seller | $100 bimonthly base, $1.60 per 100 gallons |
| Camano Vista Water District | $100 | None listed | $139.20 bimonthly for base, capital improvement, first 2,200 cubic feet and tax, as of 2026 |
| Camano West Water Association | $2,000 for buyers of existing member properties | None listed | $350 annually for the first 100,000 gallons, plus a $300 annual reserve assessment |
The Camano Water Association rates took effect September 1, 2025. Camano Vista's 2026 schedule added a $24.90 bimonthly capital improvement charge on top of its base rate. That charge applies to any connected district property with a meter installed, even if the water is shut off. A seasonal owner who locks off the water for winter still pays it.
Some systems run under a broader community association. In those cases the water cost sits inside the annual dues. Camaloch Association's 2026 budget proposal raises per-lot dues from $1,525 to $1,575, with a $125 per-lot water operations line inside that figure.
For a vacant lot, the gap gets much wider
Transfer fees run in the hundreds or low thousands. New connections cost far more, and each system prices them differently.
- Camano Water Association lists a $19,500 new water share and a $5,300 hookup fee. Its schedule also lists a $10,500 developer fee, a $100 water availability fee, a $75 administrative fee to record with Island County and a $303.50 county filing fee.
- Camano West Water Association charges members in good standing $10,000 to connect, plus a meter installation it describes as usually about $1,200. Every connection requires board approval.
- Camano Vista Water District lists a new connection fee of $7,172.30, plus $12.45 added per month in 2026.
- Camano Hills Water Company operates under a tariff filed with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission that took effect April 15, 2022. That tariff sets connection charges starting at $2,500 for a ¾-inch or 1-inch service, with road-crossing costs extra. It also lists a $50 water availability letter. Because the tariff dates from 2022, anyone budgeting should confirm current figures with the company.
The Camano Water Association share and hookup alone come to $24,800 before its other listed fees. The Camano Hills tariff starts at $2,500. That puts more than $20,000 between two lots that might be listed at the same price.
Price is only part of it. The Camano Hills tariff ties a new connection to available surplus capacity and an adequate existing main. That capacity is a state matter. Washington issues each water system an operating permit with a color rating. A green permit means the system can add connections up to the number the Department of Health has approved. A yellow permit allows connections up to the number in an approved plan or compliance document. A blue permit means the system is adequate for current users but not for new connections. A red permit allows no new connections at all. An association can be willing to sell a share and still be limited by the color on its state permit.
The Department of Health publishes this through Sentry Internet, its public water system lookup. The department's drinking water data page says the lookup shows operating permits, compliance actions and water quality data. It names capacity for new hookups as one of the things real estate professionals and lenders can review there. Any system can be searched by name or ID.
Where there's no system, the well has to prove itself
A Camano parcel outside every system's service area depends on a private well. Island County lays out the requirements in its Water Availability Verification application for individual water systems, revised May 27, 2026. "New construction on vacant parcel" is one of the project types on the form. The required documents are:
- A well site approval letter from Island County Public Health, or a well site certification from a licensed driller
- A well test of at least one hour showing at least 400 gallons per day
- The driller's report, also called the well log
- A scaled plot plan showing wells, structures, roads, septic components, property lines and surface water
- Water quality results, with bacteria tested within one year and nitrate, arsenic, chloride and conductivity within three years
- A recorded covenant establishing a 100-foot pollution control radius around the well, unless that whole zone sits on the well owner's property
- A receipt or photo showing a water meter installed at the well
Approval is valid for one year. The county's 2026 Public Health fee schedule lists the verification at $341 for an individual system and $205 for a public system. A well site inspection is a separate $297 for an individual system.
On an island, the chloride test carries the most weight. The county reviewer records a seawater intrusion rating on the form. Island County's seawater intrusion topic paper uses three risk bands: under 100 mg/L chloride is low risk, 100 to 200 mg/L is medium and above 200 mg/L is high. A lot buyer who asks for a recent chloride result before closing gets a reading on the parcel's water that the asking price doesn't show.
A system's own paperwork shows what's coming
Each Camano system pays for its own repairs, so the costs ahead show up in its notices and annual reports. A buyer can read them before the transfer fee is paid.
On July 7, 2026, the Camano Water Association announced the first of a series of capital improvement projects. The project replaces aging steel water mains in six areas and relocates meters that sit in members' backyards. A survey crew hired by Wilson Engineering started on Cascade View Drive, South Edgewood Drive and Sunnycrest Lane, South Prospect Street, SE Camano Drive between Mel's Place and Dr. Johns' Place, and backyards between SE Camano Drive, South View Street and Beach Drive near South Country Club Drive. If a home sits on one of those segments, the buyer may see survey work, a moved meter or a new service line.
The association's 2025 water quality report says its water comes entirely from wells in a deep aquifer, mainly wells 6, 7 and 8 at Bonnie Lane. It reports 23 ppm chloride in an April 18, 2025 sample, against a 250 ppm secondary limit. The report notes that chloride is an indicator of seawater intrusion. The same report says the Department of Health notified the association in April 2026 of a missed 2025 sample. The association says it collected the sample afterward and describes it as a reporting violation, not a water quality problem.
Smaller systems file their own records. Camaloch Association's 2025 annual meeting packet proposed $20,000 for water system improvements, including possible pump house work, and reported a new water committee to review its supply. At a Tuesday, March 10 meeting, Island County commissioners renewed the franchises for two Camano systems on county roads, Jordan Acres Association and Mabana Shores Association, after the earlier franchises expired in 2025, as Stanwood Camano News reported. Mabana Shores serves 42 parcels on south Camano. A system that small spreads every pump repair across a few dozen owners.
What the seller disclosure covers, and what it doesn't
Washington's statutory seller disclosure statement, RCW 64.06.020, has a water section in the version that stays in effect until January 1, 2027. It asks the seller to identify the household water source: a public or private water system, a private well serving only the property, or another system. It asks whether any shared water arrangement has a written agreement. It also asks about access and maintenance easements, needed repairs, a year-round potable supply, treatment equipment, domestic water rights and defects in the system.
The form has no water question about association membership transfers. Its homeowners' association questions are a separate section. So the dollar figures in this post come from each water system's own fee schedule, and a buyer has to request it directly.
A short FAQ
Can a Camano water association raise its rates after I buy? Each system sets its own schedule. Camano Water Association's current rates took effect September 1, 2025. Camano Vista Water District raised its base rate on January 1, 2026, and added a capital improvement charge.
Does buying a water share guarantee I can build? A share is the association's price for joining. Whether the system can add a connection depends on its state operating permit, which you can look up in Sentry Internet. Associations such as Camano West also require board approval.
How long does a well's water approval last? Island County's Water Availability Verification is valid for one year from approval.
The fees and requirements above are as each system and agency published them, and they're general information, not legal or financial advice. Please confirm the figures for a specific parcel directly with its water system, Island County and your own legal or financial advisor before relying on them.
Before you make an offer on Camano waterfront or acreage, it helps to know which water system serves the parcel, what it will charge at closing and whether its permit allows another connection. Julie Love can help you get those answers before you're committed, and can introduce you to the local well drillers, water system contacts and advisors who confirm them. Book a private consultation and valuation when you're ready to look at a specific property.
