Qualified voters who will be absent from their city or county of residence on election day or those unable to go to the polls because of illness or infirmity may apply by mail or in person for an absentee ballot. Mailed applications must be received in the Registrar's Office no later than five days before an election, but the in-person deadline extends to three days before the election. Service is metered and bills are mailed quarterly. To help pay for treatment and pumping capacity that is used only during periods of high demand, the Authority also levies peak use charges on customers who exceed their winter quarter consumption by 6,000 gallons or 30 percent, whichever is greater, during the summer quarters. There also are fees for initial connection to the system and for starting or transferring an account.
Meetings are open to the public.
The authority's mailing address is P.O. Box 1500, Merrifield, VA 22116. All of these water suppliers include sewer service charges when billing customers who have sewer service, whether provided by the county or the respective municipality. Sewer service charges are based on the customer's water usage and are stated separately from water charges on the bill. Water users in the county are required to install and use backflow preventers on plumbing fixtures and have connections hooked up to the water system. Backflow preventers keep contaminated and non-potable water from being siphoned into the water supply.