City of Fountain Valley Water Billing / Water Division
City of Fountain Valley, Orange County
Population reference
56,747 people served by active California community water system CA3010069, according to California Drinking Water Watch. The state registry lists approximately 15,814 residential, 1,009 commercial, and 248 industrial meters and identifies the City of Fountain Valley as the active community 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. The City’s residential water-service policy states that water service charges are payable on a bi-monthly basis. Bills are due upon receipt, and a bill not paid at the billing department in person or by mail by 5:00 p.m. on or before the twentieth day after mailing becomes delinquent; if day 20 falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the next working day controls.
- Rate structure
- Uniform metered commodity pricing rather than published increasing blocks. The FY 2026-27 adopted schedule, effective July 6, 2026, charges all customer classes $4.36 per HCF (one HCF is 100 cubic feet) inside the city; reclaimed water is $2.33/HCF and service outside city limits is 150% of the inside-city rate. The schedule states that the commodity rate is set under the City Council-approved water commodity adjustment policy.
- Residential cost reference
- Using the adopted 2026 commodity rate only, 5,000 to 7,000 gallons equals approximately 6.68 to 9.36 HCF and costs about $29.14 to $40.80 per month for potable-water usage. Adding the adopted residential sewer charge of $7.75 per month produces an estimated water-plus-sewer subtotal of approximately $36.89 to $48.55 per month, before any other bill components, taxes, fees, or rate changes. This is a calculated usage estimate, not a City-promised average bill.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- The FY 2026-27 fee schedule publishes a fixed monthly residential sewer rate of $7.75 for 5/8-inch, 3/4-inch, and 1-inch meters, rather than a winter-average or percentage-of-water formula in the material reviewed. Because residential bills are bi-monthly, that sewer line item generally represents two monthly charges per bill. The schedule also lists a separate residential sewer cost-replacement/extension fee of $931 for 5/8-inch through 2 1/2-inch meters; that is a connection/development charge, not the recurring wastewater bill.
- Meter reading
- Fountain Valley operates an Advanced Water Metering Infrastructure system. Each meter transmits the previous day’s usage to the network overnight, and the separate Sensus-powered usage portal exposes hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly views, alerts, and leak-identification tools. Usage is reported in cubic feet; 100 cubic feet equals 748 gallons. The current public materials confirm overnight network transmission and AMI radio equipment but do not publish a universal route-reading calendar or a single vendor maintenance interval for every meter.
- New-account deposit
- The FY 2026-27 schedule does not require a routine startup deposit for every new residential account. It does require a nonpayment deposit for customers who require more than two service calls within a 12-month period; the deposit equals the amount owed on the customer’s two most recent water bills and is not refunded until the account is closed. The schedule also lists a $500 water-usage deposit for temporary service and a $2,500 construction-water-meter deposit. A shutoff restoration may require a security deposit when directed by the City.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The adopted FY 2026-27 rates charge $45 per account for a new turn-on and $15 per account for a transfer only. These are separate from delinquency restoration charges and from the after-hours service-call rates. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday requests are handled at the after-hours rate after all fees are paid in exact cash at the Police Department.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
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
7 of 7 fields in this section contain provider-specific public detail in dataset August 1, 2026.
Documented
100%
Primary verification routes
- City of Fountain Valley Water Billing / Water Division public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (CA3010069) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID CA3010069.