City of El Monte Water Department
El Monte municipal water service area, including the central business district and parts of the northwestern and southern City
Population reference
22,968 people served by active community water system PWS CA1910038 in the California SDWIS registry. The City’s Public Works description separately reports approximately 3,460 active services serving about 22,700 businesses and households within the City water system.
Billing detail
Broad public detail found
Official destination
Open provider website ↗Provider-specific findings
Billing and account research from public material
Provider-specific research notes are displayed separately from fields that contain only an unavailable-information marker. Read qualifiers in each note and verify current account terms with the provider.
- Billing frequency
- Bi-monthly in arrears, with regular billing months identified by the City as January, March, May, July, September, and November. The bill is due upon presentation and the water-rate schedule describes a fixed bimonthly meter service charge.
- Rate structure
- Metered two-tier bimonthly commodity pricing, with one unit equal to 100 gallons, plus a fixed bimonthly meter service charge based on meter size. The current 2026 schedule lists $0.610 per unit for 0–125 units and $0.776 per unit above 125 units. A 5/8-inch meter has an $86.73 bimonthly base charge; larger meters have higher fixed charges. Private fire-protection and construction-meter charges are separate.
- Residential cost reference
- For a typical 5/8-inch residential meter using 5,000–7,000 gallons per month, usage is approximately 50–70 units monthly or 100–140 units per bimonthly bill. The 2026 water commodity charge is approximately $61.00–$88.40 per bimonthly bill, and the $86.73 5/8-inch base charge produces an estimated total water cost of roughly $74–$88 per month before sewer, taxes, assessments, or other account charges. The lower end assumes 100 bimonthly units and the upper end assumes 140 units.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- El Monte operates a separate sewer system and does not describe sewer as a simple percentage of metered potable-water intake or a winter-average calculation. The City’s 2025 sewer study states that residential sewer charges use an annual service charge by unit of service, while commercial classes use equivalent dwelling units (EDUs) tied to service characteristics such as units or 1,000 square feet. Sewer charges are therefore based on the adopted sewer rate schedule and EDU/service-unit classification rather than a published residential water-consumption winter average; the 2026 adopted sewer schedule should be used for the property’s exact amount.
- Meter reading
- The City uses metered service with regular bimonthly billing and a 100-gallon billing unit. The water system has six deep wells, a 1,000,000-gallon reservoir, a 200,000-gallon elevated tank, approximately 46 miles of distribution lines, and 24/7 system monitoring. The official portal exposes usage information, but the reviewed materials do not identify an AMI/AMR vendor, radio transmission interval, or exact route-read calendar; the defensible description is municipal meter reading on the bimonthly billing cycle with online usage history.
- New-account deposit
- Deposits are required under the City’s fee schedule. A 5/8-inch residential or commercial meter requires $100; 1-inch $150; 1.5-inch $250; 2-inch $400; 3-inch $475; 4-inch $750; 6-inch $1,500; 8-inch $2,400; and 10-inch $3,500. For property with two or more units, the deposit is multiplied by the number of units served by the meter, capped at $1,000 under the published schedule. A customer disconnected for nonpayment must increase the deposit to the average of the last six bimonthly bills before reconnection; no credit-check waiver or routine on-time refund schedule is stated.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
86%
overview fields with research notes
California
67%
records with any overview detail
National index
50%
records with any overview detail
Coverage measures what this directory documented. It does not measure service quality, affordability, or regulatory compliance.
Research record
Broad public detail found
6 of 7 fields in this section contain provider-specific public detail in dataset August 1, 2026.
Documented
86%
Details not confirmed in the reviewed public material
- Activation or transfer fee
“Not confirmed” means the directory did not identify a dependable public statement. It does not mean the provider has no policy or option.
Primary verification routes
- City of El Monte Water Department public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- velocitypayment.com reference ↗
Public URL preserved in the compiled record. Confirm its publisher, date, and applicability before relying on it.
- csd.ca.gov reference ↗
Public URL preserved in the compiled record. Confirm its publisher, date, and applicability before relying on it.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (CA1910038) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID CA1910038.