How much does it cost to haul water in Rio Verde Foothills?

Hauling water to a Rio Verde Foothills home has two separate costs, and you pay both. The first is the water itself at the EPCOR fill station, which as of June 2026 is priced at about $16.28 per 1,000 gallons (roughly 1.6 cents a gallon) plus a monthly account fee. The second is the hauler's delivery fee for trucking that water to your storage tank, which is billed separately and often runs near 4 cents a gallon. Put together, a normal single-family home in this area tends to spend somewhere around $100 to $200 a month on water, depending on how much it uses and how far the truck drives. These are utility-regulated and market prices that change, so confirm the current numbers with EPCOR and your hauler before you budget.

Here is how each cost works, what drives it, and how to keep your monthly water bill predictable.

What the EPCOR fill station charges

The EPCOR fill station charges a per-gallon water rate plus a monthly account fee, and the Arizona Corporation Commission sets that rate. Rio Verde Foothills sits in unincorporated Maricopa County with no city water line, so since January 1, 2026, the area's permanent water source has been an EPCOR-owned standpipe, or fill station. A truck fills at the standpipe and the water is the regulated commodity you are buying.

As of June 2026 the fill-station water rate is about $16.28 per 1,000 gallons. On top of the water, EPCOR offers two account types with different monthly fees. Full Service, for homes that haul regularly, carries a monthly charge near $75. Standby Service, for homes that may skip some months, carries a lower monthly charge near $25, with a higher minimum in any month you actually take water. You pick the account that fits how often you fill.

Because EPCOR is a regulated utility, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) approves these rates, and they are reviewed and adjusted over time. EPCOR's own service page is direct on the point, stating that "rates are approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission." The rate that applies on your build date may differ from the figure above. Confirm the current fill-station rate and account fees directly with EPCOR before you set a water budget.

What the hauler charges to deliver

The hauler charges a delivery fee for the truck, the driver, and the trip, and you pay it separately from the EPCOR water. The fill station only sells the water at the standpipe. Getting it from the standpipe into your tank is a private service, and several licensed haulers serve the Foothills. EPCOR has identified multiple haulers operating in the community, so you have a choice of provider.

Hauler pricing is usually quoted one of two ways. Some bill a flat fee per delivery sized to your tank, for example a few hundred dollars for a multi-thousand-gallon drop. Others quote a metered price per gallon delivered, often near 4 cents a gallon in this market, which already folds the trip into the per-gallon number. A delivery of 3,000 to 6,000 gallons is common for a household tank. Distance, road access, and how full your tank already is all move the price.

The practical takeaway is that the delivered cost of water is the EPCOR rate plus the hauler rate stacked together. A gallon that costs about 1.6 cents at the standpipe can land in your tank at closer to 5 or 6 cents once delivery is added. Get a written per-gallon or per-load quote from two or three haulers, because their rates and trip charges are not identical.

What a typical home pays per month

A typical Rio Verde Foothills household spends roughly $100 to $200 a month on hauled water once both costs are added, though usage drives the real number. Reported usage in the community has run on the low side, around a few thousand gallons a month for careful households, while a larger family, a pool, or any irrigation pushes it much higher. Your bill is mostly a function of gallons used.

Walk the math. If a home uses about 6,000 gallons in a month, the EPCOR water alone is roughly 6 times the $16.28 rate, near $98, before the account fee. Add a $75 Full Service monthly fee and the EPCOR side is around $173. The hauler's delivery for those 6,000 gallons, near 4 cents a gallon, adds roughly $240 if billed per gallon, or less on a flat per-load rate. So a moderate-use month can land near $200 to $400 all in, while a low-use month on Standby Service can sit well under $150. The single biggest lever is how many gallons you pull.

These figures are estimates built on current rates, and both the EPCOR rate and hauler pricing change. Treat any number here as a planning range, not a quote, and confirm the current cost with EPCOR and your hauler before you commit.

How to keep your water cost predictable

You keep hauled-water cost predictable by sizing your tank right, choosing the matching EPCOR account, and watching usage. The biggest swing in your bill is not the rate, it is the gallons, so the household habits that cut indoor and outdoor water use cut the bill directly.

A few moves help in this area:

• Size the storage tank to your use. A bigger tank means fewer delivery trips and fewer per-load fees, and it gives you a cushion if a truck is delayed in monsoon mud. Many Foothills homes run tanks from 2,500 gallons up to 10,000 gallons. See our guide on how big a water storage tank you need for a hauled-water home in Arizona.
• Pick the right EPCOR account. If you haul every month, Full Service usually pencils out. If you haul rarely, Standby Service avoids paying the higher monthly fee for water you do not take. You can switch account types, but only on EPCOR's schedule, so choose with your real pattern in mind.
• Compare haulers. Get per-gallon and per-load quotes from two or three providers and ask about trip charges for your road.
• Cut outdoor water. Desert landscaping and drip irrigation, instead of turf, keep the gallons, and the bill, down in a climate where water is the constraint.

• Fill the tank, do not chase it. Scheduling a delivery when the tank is low, rather than topping off a nearly full tank, lets the hauler drop a full load each trip and spreads any trip charge across more gallons. Fewer, fuller deliveries usually cost less per gallon than frequent small ones.

Hauled water is a real, recurring utility cost, but it is a known one. Once your tank is sized and your account is set, the monthly bill becomes predictable, which is exactly what you want before you build. For the full picture of getting water to a Foothills lot, including wells and shared wells, see our guide on how to get water to a home in Rio Verde Foothills. Jematell Homes builds on Foothills lots and folds the tank, the pump, and the EPCOR account into the plan so the water cost is settled before move-in.

How Jematell Homes helps

Wells, septic, and hauled-water setups are routine on the rural lots we build. Reach out and we will talk through how this applies to your specific lot and plan.

Sources

• EPCOR: Rio Verde Foothills Water Fill Station (start service)
• EPCOR Arizona: Water and Wastewater Rates
• EPCOR Delivers Water Solution for Rio Verde Foothills, Facility Opens January 1, 2026 (media release)
• Arizona Corporation Commission (utility rate regulator)