Texas water, sewer and trash bills, city by city.

How a Texas water bill is built

Almost every city here charges a fixed monthly amount (called a customer, meter, base or minimum charge) plus a price per 1,000 gallons that climbs in steps as you use more. The steep upper tiers are there to discourage summer lawn watering, so a July bill can be double a February one. Fort Worth and El Paso price water per CCF (100 cubic feet, about 748 gallons) rather than per 1,000 gallons.

Sewer (wastewater) is usually not billed on what you actually use each month. Fort Worth, Lubbock, Corpus Christi and San Antonio base it on your winter water use, when little goes on the lawn. Fort Worth’s winter quarter average runs Dec 1 to the end of February and sets the sewer volume you pay from your April bill on. Dallas bills wastewater on actual use or the winter average, whichever is less. If you move in during the spring or summer, ask what default volume you will be billed at until you have a winter on record. Lubbock, for example, uses 7,000 gallons a month for a new account with no history.

Suburbs are different. Many homes outside city limits around Houston, Austin and Dallas get water from a municipal utility district (MUD) or another small provider with its own rates. The figures below apply inside each named city.

Water and sewer rates by city

Residential rates for a standard home meter (5/8-inch or 3/4-inch) inside city limits, taken from each utility’s own rate schedule where we could reach it. Volume rates are per 1,000 gallons unless marked CCF. Not every utility publishes an average bill; where one does, it is listed.

Gaps we could not fill from a primary source: Austin Water’s FY2027 tier rates (its rate pages would not load for us; the example bill above is from a local news summary), Lubbock’s water rates, McAllen and College Station rate schedules, and whether Amarillo posted a new schedule for Oct 1, 2026. Houston’s table comes from Houston Public Works’ 2021 rate schedule, which set yearly steps through April 2026 and says inflation-based adjustments continue each year after that. Check Houston’s water billing site for the current figures. San Antonio also adds a separate Water Supply Fee and an Edwards Aquifer Authority fee, listed on SAWS’s rate pages.

Increases already scheduled

If you are budgeting for 2027, these changes are already adopted. Each one is on top of the rates above.

• San Antonio (SAWS): City Council approved a multi-year plan 8–3 on Oct 8, 2026. The average home bill goes up $3.91 a month (6.9%) in January 2027 and $3.94 (6.5%) in 2028, with smaller caps for 2029 and 2030. By 2030 the average bill is projected to be $13.45 to $16.54 a month higher. SAWS is also widening its Uplift discount for low-income households to 150% of the federal poverty level.
• Fort Worth: new service charges and higher upper-tier water rates take effect Jan 1, 2027 and first show up on February bills. Light users see only the higher fixed charges.
• Corpus Christi: water and wastewater go up again on Jan 1, 2027, about $4.35 a month for the average home. That follows the Jan 1, 2026 increase of $4.78 for water and $4.20 for wastewater.
• Dallas: water and wastewater rates did not change on Oct 1, 2026, but the trash fee is being split into curb and alley rates on Feb 1, 2027 (see trash below).
• Already in effect this fall: Austin Water rose on Oct 1, 2026 and Waco on Oct 1, 2026. El Paso Water’s 12% increase started Mar 1, 2026, and its board approved that budget in January, so watch for the next decision early in 2027.

Trash and city fees on the water bill

Most Texas cities bill garbage pickup on the same statement as water. Cart size often sets the price. These are monthly residential charges.

Houston’s fee is fixed at $5 unless City Council votes to change it (City of Houston). When council passed the budget, it was described as holding for two years and then possibly rising toward a full-cost figure of $25 a month by 2032. Apartments and homes with a private hauler don’t pay it, and seniors, low-income households and residents with disabilities can apply for help through 311. Austin’s page says its rates come from the FY2026-27 budget. In El Paso, the city’s trash cart and environmental fees are also billed on the El Paso Water statement (EPWater sample bill). We did not find current amounts for El Paso, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, McAllen or Amarillo trash.

Drought stages right now

A wet July 2026 eased restrictions across South and Central Texas. Drought stages matter for your budget because San Antonio and Corpus Christi add surcharges or usage caps at the higher stages, and every stage limits lawn watering.

Corpus Christi: Stage 2

The city dropped from Stage 3 to Stage 2 on Aug 4, 2026, after nearly 600 days in Stage 3. Combined storage in its western reservoirs was 36.9% that day, with Lake Corpus Christi at 67.8% and Choke Canyon at 24.9%. Lawns can be watered every other week on your assigned day, before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. The projected date for a Level 1 water emergency moved back to September 2028. If that emergency is ever declared, households would face a monthly limit and surcharges per 1,000 gallons over it (Texas Tribune). Read the Corpus Christi page before you buy there.

San Antonio: SAWS Stage 2, Edwards Aquifer Stage 1

SAWS ended Stage 3 on Aug 4, 2026, and with it the Stage 3 surcharge of $10.37 per 1,000 gallons over 20,000 gallons a month for single-family homes. Stage 2 watering rules stay in place: sprinklers and irrigation once a week on your day (set by the last digit of your address), 5 to 10 a.m. or 9 p.m. to midnight. Hand watering is allowed any time. The Edwards Aquifer Authority moved pumping permit holders back to Stage 1 when the aquifer stood at 650.3 feet. SAWS and the aquifer authority set stages separately, so the two can differ.

Austin: Conservation Stage

Austin has been in its baseline Conservation Stage since Sep 2, 2025. Automatic sprinkler systems run one assigned day a week and hose-end sprinklers up to two, with outdoor watering before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m. (City of Austin). Stage 1 comes back if combined Highland Lakes storage (Lakes Buchanan and Travis) falls to 1.4 million acre-feet (City of Austin).

Deposits and start-up fees for new customers

New residents often pay a refundable deposit plus a start fee. Most utilities waive the deposit if you can show 12 months of on-time payments with another utility, so ask your current water or electric company for a letter of credit before you move.

Houston Public Works takes new accounts online at its water billing site, but we could not find a published deposit amount. For electricity deposits, which are separate and usually larger, see Texas electricity. The full move-in checklist is on Moving to Texas.

Out-of-date numbers you’ll still find online

Other monthly bills

Electricity is the bigger and more variable bill in most Texas homes. Rates, delivery charges and which cities let you shop for a plan are on Texas electricity, and summer cooling costs are on Texas summer costs. Each city page (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, McAllen, Waco, College Station, Amarillo) puts these bills next to rent, taxes and insurance.

How we check

Every figure links to its source and shows the date it applies to. We use the utility’s own rate schedule wherever it loads and label anything from a news outlet. Read the full methodology.