What are the various charges on my Water and Sewer Bill?

The Standard charges on your water bill include the following:  Water Use, Water Service, Sewer, Capital Project Charge and the Drought Contingency Charge.  Below is an explanation of the various charges:

     Water Use - This charge is based on the number of units of water used in a two month period.

     Water Service - This is a flat amount based on the size of the meter and type of water service (commercial, irrigation or residential).

     Sewer - For Residential accounts, this charge is based on the amount of water used during the winter months (Mid-October to Mid-February).  It changes once a year on the April bill. For Commercial accounts, this charge is based on water usage.  For irrigation accounts, there is no corresponding sewer charge as the water used for outdoor landscaping is not treated by the sewer system.

     Capital Project Charge - This charge is based on the amount of water used between Mid-February and Mid-June.  It changes once a year in August.  This charge pays for a $5,000,000 bond for capital projects, and was approved by the Council on November 20, 2014, and became effective with the March 2015 bill.

     Drought Contingency Charge - For residential/commercial account, the charge is either $2.32 a billing period if the account uses less than the median amount of water used by other users or $6.99 a billing period if they use more.  Landscape users are charged $102.14 a billing period. The Drought Contingency Charge was established and became effective with the April 2018 bill.