Type of home: single family home, attached home (condo), or apartment

Outdoor landscape area

Number of residents living in the home

The weather (Visit the Weather Center to learn more)

The number of days in a monthly billing cycle.  This can vary depending upon when your meter is read. The number of days will be printed on your bill.

Your outdoor water budget is based on the square footage of irrigated landscaping and the amount of water necessary to maintain a healthy landscape that is composed of 60% warm season turf and 40% drought tolerant landscaping.

Outdoor square footage can vary for each residence.  When IRWD does not know your actual landscape square footage we use a default square footage as noted below. The square footage used to calculate your outdoor budget is printed on your bill.

You can request a variance if your outside landscape area differs from the amount printed on your bill.

Single family home default for outdoor: 1,300 square feet of landscape area

Attached home (condo) default for outdoor: 435 square feet of landscape area

Apartment: No landscape area (no variance available)

Your indoor water budget is based on the number of residents in your home.  You are assigned 50 gallons per person per day for your indoor water budget.

When IRWD does not know the actual number of people living in the home, we assign a default number of residents as noted below.

You can request a variance if the number of people living in the home differs from the default number. Variances must be renewed every year.

Single family home default number of residents: 4 people

Attached home (condo) default number of residents: 3 people

Apartment default number of residents: 2 people

Your outdoor landscape needs more or less water depending upon the weather.  For example, during the summer months plants need more water so you will have a slightly increased monthly water budget.  In the winter, your water budget will be reduced as you will need less water to maintain a healthy landscape.

IRWD uses weather monitoring stations situated throughout the service area to determine how to adjust your monthly water budget due to local weather conditions. Visit IRWD.com/commercial/et-weather-center for details.

If you are someone who likes to dig into details, we have them! Click here to see the technical formula used to determine your monthly water budget.

The default billing cycle is 30 days, but may be more or less depending upon when your meter is read.

For billing cycles that are longer or shorter than 30 days, the fixed service charges and water conservation credit will be billed on a proportional number of days. So, you may see small differences in the fixed charges from billing period to billing period

There is a separate water fixed service charge that does not include the cost of water used by the customer.

The water fixed service charge pays for IRWD operations, maintenance and infrastructure costs.

This water fixed charge is based on your meter size which appears on your monthly bill. Most residential properties have a 5/8 x 3/4 inch meter and incur a fixed per month charge. See full list of meter sizes and fixed charges

The monthly water fixed service charge for water is based on a 30 day period.  Billing cycles that are longer or shorter than 30 days are billed on a proportional number of days. So, you may see small differences in the water fixed service charges from billing period to billing period.

The water conservation credit recognizes that low volume users don't fully use their reserved capacity in the system.

IRWD provides a two dollar water conservation credit to users who are underutilizing the system and effectively "leasing back" to the system for use by other customers.  This prevents the District from having to upsize infrastructure as quickly as capacity is exhausted.

Customers that remain in the Low Volume Tier (tier 1) for 9 out of 12 months for the previous calendar year will receive a two dollar water conservation credit for each month in the following year.

New customers must be with the District for a full calendar year before they can receive a water conservation credit.

The monthly water conservation credit is based on a 30 day period. Billing cycles that are longer or shorter than 30 days are billed on a proportional number of days. So, you may see small differences in the credit from billing period to billing period.

The sewer fixed service charge pays IRWD to operate and maintain the sewer system.

The monthly sewer fixed service charge is based on a 30-day period. Billing cycles that are longer or shorter than 30 days are billed on a proportional number of days. So, you may see small differences in the fixed charges from billing period to billing period.

New customers will be billed at $28.78 per month until the customer has established a full calendar year of water usage history.

See a chart itemizing the sewer fixed service charge.

• drinking water (potable)
• recycled water (non-potable)

• $55-$75 during business hours (certain exceptions may apply)
• $165-$200 during nonbusiness hours