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1. How do I establish service for water?

The city must have an Application for Water Service to establishing water service, which must be signed by the person responsible for payment of the bill. The application can be submitted in two ways:
* In person by coming during normal business hours to the city's Customer Services counter in City Hall (13325 Civic Center Drive)
* By email to customerservices@poway.org


Application for Water Service

2. What forms of payment are accepted?

Cash, checks, and money orders are accepted. Payment options can be found on the Pay Your Bill page. At the current time, we are unable to accept debit or credit cards for payments made in person.

3. What if I want to pay my water bill on the closed Friday?

Water payments may be sent by mail, dropped off in the secure water payment depository box in the City Hall parking lot, or made online. The secure payment box is available at all times.

4. I just returned from vacation and discovered that my water service has been locked off because I forgot to pay my bill. I need my water service turned back on and it’s a closed Friday; what do I do?

Requests made outside of normal business hours (including closed Fridays, weekends, or holidays) are subject to after-hours fees. To have service reinstated during these times / days, contact the city’s Water Treatment Plant at 858-668-4449. When the after-hours employee arrives, you will be required to sign an agreement to pay the after-hours fee before 9 a.m. the next business day.

5. I moved into my new residence on a closed Friday, and there is no water service at my residence. How can I get service established today?

Requests made outside of normal business hours (including closed Fridays, weekends, or holidays) are subject to after-hours fees. To have service reinstated during these times / days, contact the city’s Water Treatment Plant at 858-668-4751. When the after-hours employee arrives, you will be required to sign an agreement to pay the after-hours fee before 9 a.m. the next business day. You will also be required to contact Customer Services on the next business day to officially sign up for service.

6. I need to obtain a construction hydrant meter. Can I do this on a closed Friday?

All requests for a temporary construction hydrant meter must be made in person at least 2 business days before the meter is needed during City Hall normal business hours.

7. Who do I contact for a water emergency on a closed Friday?

If you are experiencing a water emergency outside of City Hall normal business hours, please contact the city’s Water Treatment Plant at 858-668-4449 for assistance.

8. Can I pay my water bill on the city’s website?

Online bill pay is available for Water / Sewer Utility Bills and is free to all water / sewer customers. To get started, you will need to have your account number and service address available. More information can be found on the Pay Your Bill page.

9. When is the water bill mailed, and when is it due?

Water bills are mailed bimonthly (every 2 months). A customer is assigned to 1 of 4 billing cycles. Payment is due within 15 days of receipt of the water bill and becomes delinquent 30 days after the bill is mailed.

10. How are water and wastewater rates calculated?

Go to the Understanding Your Bill information page.

11. Does the City provide financial assistance for filling a pool?

The City of Poway does not provide financial assistance for filling your pool. To ensure that the filling of your pool does not affect your sewer billing, it is recommended that you not fill your pool during the winter months of November-April. For an explanation of how your sewer charge is calculated, please read more about Rates and Fees or contact a customer service representative during business hours.

12. When will my wastewater rate be recalculated?

Each year wastewater rates are recalculated to include the previous three years winter water use. This excludes the current winter season. The recalculated rate will be reflected in bills mailed to customers in the months of March or April depending on your bill cycle.

13. Why are there two different charges on my wastewater bill?

The fixed bimonthly wastewater charge recovers a portion of the City’s fixed costs of system capacity, billing, and administrative overhead. The commodity rate recovers the cost of wastewater treatment based on consumer use.

14. Why do we take 85% of the lowest winter water use to determine wastewater charges?

We take 85% of the lowest winter water use based on the assumption that 15% of the billed water use is not returned to the sewer system for irrigation and pool filling, while the remaining 85% is returned to wastewater.

15. Why do we use the last three years average to determine wastewater charges?

We use the last three years average of lowest winter water use to account for variations in weather, leaks, or other variations, that may cause a higher than normal wastewater bill are minimized for our customers.

16. What if I don’t fall into the single-family residential wastewater category?

Commercial and other non-residential customers pay wastewater charges based on their water consumption for that billing period. All customers also pay a fixed bimonthly wastewater service charge based on water meter size and customer classification to recover the City’s costs for system capacity, billing, and administrative overhead.