Wastewater is liquid waste discharged by residences, commercial properties, agriculture and industry that contains contaminants. It flows into the sanitary sewer collection system where it flows into the wastewater treatment plants that fully treat the wastewater before discharging it into the Colorado River or using it for the Water Reclamation program.

New Calculation Method

Austin Water calculates wastewater costs based on the amount of water used during three late fall and winter billing periods. Wastewater rates will be based on your average water use for all three months. These three periods occur between mid-November and mid-March of each year.  Each month during your wastewater averaging period must have water usage billed to be considered in the averaging calculation.  If two or three months of the averaging period have no water use billed, the wastewater average will be set at a default wastewater average, which is 5,000 gallons for residential customers,  A customer must have at least 60 consecutive billing days of water usage  for a calculated wastewater average.

Conserve Now and Lower Your Bill!

You can lower your wastewater costs for the next year by conserving water use during these billing periods. There are many ways residents and businesses can do to conserve water and wastewater. You can also use our online water calculator, utility statement graphs, and online utility usage history table to keep track of your water habits.

Learn More

For more information on wastewater averaging, review our Wastewater Averaging Frequently Asked Questions.