Phoenix Commercial Water and Sewer Rates: Seasonal Water, Environmental Charges, and Sewer User Categories

What changed in Phoenix

Source-reported facts: Phoenix lists current water rates effective March 1, 2025. The City says water rates have three main components: monthly fixed service charges, volume charges, and environmental charges.

The current schedule lists inside-city volume charges above the allowance at $4.93 per unit in low season, $5.65 in medium season, and $6.13 in high season. The inside-city environmental charge is $0.62 per unit on all usage.

Who may be affected

Phoenix hotels, restaurants, multifamily properties, car washes, laundries, offices, schools, governments, service stations, and mixed-use buildings should review both the water schedule and the sewer user category table.

The sewer schedule lists different user categories, including commercial units, laundries, car washes, restaurants and bakeries, hotels and motels, offices and banks, schools, and government accounts.

Why January through March matters

Phoenix says the monthly sewer charge is based on a percentage of average water usage for the January through March billing cycle reflected on the city services bill.

That means a leak, abnormal process use, or unmanaged irrigation during the first three months of the year can affect future sewer charges. Phoenix specifically warns that significant leaks during those months can increase the sewer fee.

What a 20 percent usage reduction could mean

Directional water-only estimate: assume an inside-city Phoenix commercial account uses 300 billable water units in a high-season month above the included allowance. A 20 percent reduction equals 60 units.

At the high-season $6.13 water volume charge plus the $0.62 environmental charge, those 60 units represent about $405.00 in monthly water-side variable exposure. Sewer impact should be modeled separately using the account user category and January-through-March average.

What to check first on your bill

Confirm inside-city or outside-city service, meter size, units included in the monthly allowance, current season, environmental charges, sewer user code, dining status, and January-through-March average water usage.

For restaurants, laundries, car washes, hotels, and mixed-use properties, confirm the exact sewer user category before treating the sewer line as a simple percentage of water cost.

Where Smart Valve fits

Smart Valve may be relevant when a Phoenix commercial property has controllable metered water use, especially during high-season periods and January-through-March sewer-average months. It cannot reduce fixed service charges or environmental rules that apply independently of usage.

A bill assessment should separate seasonal water exposure from sewer user-category exposure before estimating project economics.

FAQ

Sources

• City of Phoenix - current water and sewer rates (retrieved June 22, 2026)
• City of Phoenix - sewer rate schedule by user category effective July 1, 2025 (retrieved June 22, 2026)