Understanding Water Budgets & Tiered Rates

Water budget-based tiered rate structures promote fairness. In addition, they reward customers who use water efficiently and discourage customers who waste water.

Please select a link below to learn more about...

• Tiered Rates
• About the Water Budget Estimator
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Billing Examples
• Variance Forms
  • Residential accounts
  • Multi-family accounts
  • Landscape only account

Water Budget Tier Rates

Your Total Water Budget is based on indoor and outdoor water budgets.

There are four tiers of water use.*

• Tier 1: Indoor Use: $1.483/billing unit
  This tier covers indoor water use and is based on the number of residents in the household, each using 60 gallons of water per day. One billing unit is 748 gallons of water.
  
  The default single family residential household budget is based on 3 residents, multifamily residential is 2 residents per unit. Budgets may be customized to your specific household size through EMWD's variance process.
  - Download Variance Request form
  - Solicitud de Varianza
   
• Tier 2: Outdoor Use: $2.714/billing unit
  Number of billing units will vary depending on ET (weather) data and irrigated area size. One billing unit is 748 gallons of water. Budgets may be customized to your specific irrigated area through EMWD's variance process.
  - Download Variance Request form
  - Solicitud de Varianza
   
• Tier 3: Excessive Use: $4.864/billing unit
  Number of billing units is calculated by adding indoor budget billing units to outdoor budget billing units and dividing by two. One billing unit is 748 gallons of water.
   
• Tier 4: Wasteful Use: $8.898/billing unit
  All billing units in excess of Tier 3 use. One billing unit is 748 gallons of water.
  
  

*The above tiers cover all areas except for parts of San Jacinto Valley that only receive well water. San Jacinto Valley well water tiers will be as follows:

• Tier 1 (indoor use): $0.876/billing unit
• Tier 2 (outdoor use): $1.604/billing unit
• Tier 3 (excessive use): $2.875/billing unit
• Tier 4 (wasteful use): $5.258/billing unit

For more information, check out the Frequently Asked Questions.

Water Budget Estimator

Use our online estimator to see what your water budget might be under the new tier system.
You will need to enter the following information:

1. Choose a month
2. Enter the number of household members
3. Enter your irrigated area (in square feet)
   If you don't know your irrigated area, you may estimate it by subtracting your non-irrigated areas (house footprint, driveway, walkways, patios, etc.) from your lot size. If you don’t know your lot size, go to a reference website such as www.zillow.com or the County parcel data website at https://taxpayments.co.riverside.ca.us/Search.aspx and enter your property address. If property information is provided in acres, convert that to square feet by multiplying your acreage by 43,560. EXAMPLE: 0.17 acres x 43,560 = 7,405 square feet.
4. Enter the number of billing units you'd like to compare to your water budget

Notes:
Outdoor budgets are based on historical weather data within calendar months. Actual budgets WILL vary according to actual weather conditions and actual billing periods. Budget cost estimates apply to the total use of indoor and outdoor water budget billing units only.

Billing Examples

The samples below represent a one-month example of water budget information for each household size, irrigated area and approved variances (if any) noted.

UNDER Budget SAMPLE

Household size = 3 people

Landscape area = 2,443 square feet

Water budget for March = 16 billing units

Actual water use = 10 billing units