City of South Gate Water Department
City of South Gate municipal water service area, Los Angeles County; active CWS PWS CA1910152
Population reference
66,967 people served by active community water system CA1910152 according to the California SDWIS registry. The registry lists approximately 14,300 municipal connections and the City says the system serves most of South Gate; the Hollydale area is excluded because those customers are served by Golden State Water Company.
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
- Monthly. The City’s SB 998 policy states that water bills are rendered monthly unless a rate schedule provides otherwise, are due on the bill’s due date, and become overdue and subject to discontinuation if unpaid within 60 calendar days of the invoice date. Residential bills include water consumption, sewer maintenance, and street-sweeping charges; trash is billed separately by Universal Waste Systems.
- Rate structure
- Metered uniform volumetric municipal rate with a minimum/base charge and different residential, senior-resident, commercial/industrial, outside-city, and recycled-water schedules. The current FY 2025–26 master fee schedule effective November 9, 2025 retains $5.98 per 100 cubic feet for residential consumption above 4 CCF, $6.31 per 100 cubic feet for commercial/industrial, and a $26.04 minimum/base charge for 4 CCF or less. The City’s public schedule does not expose a modern increasing-block or seasonal tier table for ordinary residential service.
- Residential cost reference
- Approximately $44–$48 per month for water, sewer, and the single-family street-sweeping charge at 5,000–7,000 gallons, using the current published schedule as a directional estimate: 5,000–7,000 gallons is about 6.68–9.36 CCF, yielding about $39.95–$56.15 for water at $5.98/100 cubic feet, plus $0.35/100 cubic feet sewer and $2.58/month street sweeping. Because the public fee schedule is legacy-styled and bills may include other account charges, customers should use the bill or call (323) 563-9586 for an account-specific 2026 quote.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Residential sewer maintenance is billed on the same monthly City utility bill and the published schedule lists $0.35 per 100 cubic feet. The reviewed City materials do not describe winter averaging, a separate sewer cap, or a flat percentage of water consumption; therefore the defensible public calculation is a usage-linked charge based on the metered billing units, with the exact account line item controlling. Street sweeping is a separate monthly charge and trash is not part of the City water bill.
- Meter reading
- The City operates the municipal system for more than 14,300 connections, with eight active wells, a 4.2-million-gallon underground reservoir, five surface tanks totaling 9.5 million gallons, and approximately 135 miles of distribution pipeline. The SB 998 policy states that meters are read at regular intervals for periodic, opening, closing, and special bills and that each bill shows current and prior readings plus usage units. The public materials do not identify an AMI/AMR vendor, hourly telemetry, or route calendar; the documented method is regular municipal meter reading with monthly billing.
- New-account deposit
- A $204.28 deposit is required when submitting a new residential water-service application, with the City’s public page stating that the deposit is applied to the final bill and any difference is billed or refunded by check. The customer must provide a final closing escrow statement or rental agreement, a valid California ID, and any additional documents requested. The SB 998 policy also requires a $204.28 refundable deposit when an occupant takes over service from a delinquent landlord account; the public materials do not describe a credit-check waiver or an automatic on-time-payment refund schedule beyond applying the deposit to final-account reconciliation.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The current City fee schedule lists a $20.42 new-customer service turn-on fee. New service is initiated in person at the Utility Bill Payments counter with the required application, valid California ID, and ownership or tenancy document; the $204.28 deposit is separate. The reviewed public pages do not publish a distinct account-name transfer fee, so a tenant or owner changing responsibility should confirm any account-specific administrative charge with (323) 563-9586.
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 South Gate Water Department public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- 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 (CA1910152) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID CA1910152.