The declining consumption puts upward pressure on the surcharge rate. The reason for this is that a significant portion of the costs related to wastewater are largely fixed and therefore reduced revenues from consumption cannot generally be offset by equal decreases in operating costs. The impact of water consumption on sewer surcharge revenues remains a significant risk to the sewer surcharge model.

In addition to the Sewer Master Plan, the City is currently undertaking a study to research alternative options to fund the City's stormwater infrastructure. One objective of this study is to establish a separate funding mechanism for the City's stormwater infrastructure that would assess costs based on a more accurate measure of a customers' burden, whether residential or commercial, on the stormwater system. Depending on the results of the study, this may result in substantial changes to the current Sewer Surcharge model. A comprehensive model factoring in sanitary and storm water costs and associated revenue requirements will be presented to City Council once the Sewer Master Plan and Storm Water Financing studies are complete.

Several other Ontario municipalities have already implemented some form of stormwater financing fee, as detailed in the table below:

Municipalities with Stormwater Utility Charges
London	Richmond Hill
Middlesex Centre	Aurora
Kitchener	Guelph
Waterloo	Markham
St. Thomas	Newmarket
Mississauga	Vaughan
Ottawa

Source: 2019 BMA Study

Stormwater fees for these municipalities range from $33 to $196 annually and are not reflected in the comparison of charges outlined below. number of municipalities that continue to fund sewer related expenditures via the property tax base. As such, comparisons amongst municipalities can be challenging. 

Comparison of Charges

Windsor's sewer surcharge fees are higher than the provincial average in the residential category, though they are significantly lower than average for high usage commercial accounts. The table below, as reported in the 2019 BMA Study, illustrates the annual wastewater differences.

2019 Sewer Surcharge Costs
	Residential Wastewater Costs	Commercial Wastewater Costs	Industrial Wastewater Costs
Annual Usage	200 m3	10,000 m3	30,000 m3