We’re learning that growth is expensive on many levels.

It is expensive for those who cherish the open spaces, who pay for growth in a loss of that freedom to roam.

It is expensive for governments — and by extension, taxpayers — to pay for infrastructure needed to handle that growth.

Another example of such expense involves replacing a 27-year-old sewage treatment plant with one that can initially handle 1.25 million gallons a day to serve the Courtland area. There are plans being considered to double or triple the size of the yet-unbuilt plant.

Current housing developments are feeling the pinch of failing drain fields, and new projects on the books are taxing the current system to dangerous levels, the county’s board of supervisors are being told.

Potential cost estimates have not yet been made public, but you can bet it won’t come cheaply.

Like every other growth project, it, too, will be expensive.