Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD)
City of Irvine, portions of Lake Forest, Tustin, Orange, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, and nearby unincorporated Orange County communities
Population reference
444,800 residents in the current California Drinking Water Watch active-system record for CWS CA3010092. IRWD’s 2025 Urban Water Management Plan reports 132,347 active municipal connections for 2025, while the State registry identifies the district as an active community system with surface-water and groundwater supplies. The district is well above the 3,300-person threshold.
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, generally about a 30-day period. IRWD says the exact number of days can vary with meter-read timing and is printed on the bill; fixed charges are prorated when a cycle is longer or shorter than 30 days. Water, sewer, recycled-water, pumping-surcharge, credits, and applicable setup or restoration charges can appear on the monthly account summary.
- Rate structure
- Budget-Based Rate Structure with four residential potable tiers tied to each customer’s monthly water budget. The budget uses household occupants, home type, irrigated landscape area, local weather/evapotranspiration, and billing-period length. FY 2026–27 effective July 1, 2026 rates are $2.18/CCF for Low Volume up to 40% of budget, $2.92/CCF for Base use from 41–100%, $8.03/CCF for Inefficient use from 101–140%, and $19.32/CCF for Wasteful use at 141% or more; a 5/8-by-3/4-inch meter has a $15.60 monthly water service charge, with area-based pumping surcharges where applicable.
- Residential cost reference
- For a typical 5,000–7,000-gallon monthly household using about 6.7–9.4 CCF and remaining within the Low Volume/Base allocation, the FY 2026–27 water-only planning range is approximately $31–$43 before any pumping surcharge: $15.60 fixed service plus roughly $15–$27 of tiered commodity use. If the home exceeds its budget, the $8.03 or $19.32 penalty tiers can materially increase the bill. Sewer service, which is usually billed by IRWD where applicable, is additional; a precise household total requires the customer’s budget, meter, sewer collection/treatment category, and location.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- For residential single-family and multifamily units, IRWD’s FY 2026–27 sewer collection-and-treatment service charge is based on the average of the actual lowest three months of water usage during the prior calendar year, charged on a 30-day basis. Customers with less than a full calendar year of history are charged the 90% rate. The schedule lists $29.85/month for average use under 5.0 CCF (75% rate), $38.10/month for 5.01–10.0 CCF (90%), and $44.60/month above 10.0 CCF (100%). Collection-only is $13.65/month and treatment-only is $24.45/month for the listed residential category. Commercial sewer quantity charges assume 90% of water use returns to sewer, with alternate discharge measurement possible by request.
- Meter reading
- IRWD meters are read monthly by Alexander’s Contract Services using an automated handheld meter-reading system whose data is downloaded and transferred electronically into IRWD’s billing system. The District states that customers’ meters record each 100 cubic feet (one CCF equals 748 gallons), and the bill shows the monthly read dates and number of days, which can vary around a 30-day period. IRWD manages an Advanced Meter Infrastructure program and permits real-time usage-alert devices inside the home or on customer-side piping, but does not permit unauthorized add-on devices inside the District-owned meter box.
- New-account deposit
- For FY 2026–27 new or transferred water/sewer service, IRWD lists a $31 service-establishment fee and a $75 residential service deposit that may be required until a one-year payment history is established; non-residential deposit is $125. Returning customers with good payment history are not charged a deposit. IRWD’s start/stop page says deposits are returned after 12 months of good payment history and applied to the 13th month’s bill. Temporary construction-meter deposits are separate and equal the replacement cost of the meter/backflow equipment.
- Activation or transfer fee
- IRWD charges a non-refundable $31 service-establishment fee for a new water/sewer account or transfer of an existing account to a new location, effective July 1, 2026. Start/stop service is available online; applicants should provide the requested service-address and account-holder information. A residential deposit of $75 may also be required until a one-year payment history is established. Physical development, connection, construction-meter, and backflow charges are separate from this ordinary account activation/transfer fee.
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
- Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) 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 (CA3010092) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID CA3010092.