City of Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) – Dallas Water Utility
Dallas and the City of Dallas Water Utilities retail service territory
Population reference
Approximately 1,356,479 people (EPA SDWIS/Texas PWS ID TX0570004; active community water system record)
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. Dallas Water Utilities divides the city into 21 geographic reading areas, one for each working day of the month; the area determines the meter-read, bill-mailing, and due-date timing. Water meters are read monthly and bills include water, wastewater, sanitation, stormwater, and other City charges.
- Rate structure
- Increasing block/tiered residential usage charges plus a meter-size customer charge. For rates effective October 1, 2025, the common 5/8-inch meter has a $5.93 water customer charge and $5.34 wastewater customer charge; residential water volume is $2.17 per 1,000 gallons for 0–4,000 gallons, $4.81 for 4,001–10,000, $7.98 for 10,001–20,000, $11.40 for 20,001–30,000, and $13.20 above 30,000. The bill may also include stormwater, sanitation, and a $3.00 environmental cleanup fee.
- Residential cost reference
- For a typical 5/8-inch residential meter using 5,000–7,000 gallons, the FY2026 schedule produces approximately $56–$77 per month for water plus wastewater before stormwater, sanitation, environmental-cleanup fees, taxes, or processor charges. A full City utility bill is higher because sanitation and stormwater are billed on the same statement; for a representative account, the customer should add the applicable impervious-area stormwater fee, the $3.00 environmental-cleanup fee, and the current residential sanitation charge.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Residential wastewater volume is based on the lesser of actual current-month water consumption or the winter average. DWU calculates the winter average from water billed in December, January, February, and March, with a 40,000-gallon maximum; if current water use is lower than that average, the lower current use is used. The FY2026 residential sewer volume charge is $6.19 per 1,000 gallons, plus the meter-size wastewater customer charge. This avoids charging sewer treatment for more water than the household’s current or established winter wastewater contribution.
- Meter reading
- Dallas Water Utilities reads residential and business meters monthly. A trained meter reader uses a handheld computer; the system rejects unusual readings, performs a pre-bill audit against historical usage, and triggers another read when necessary. DWU reports a 99.89% meter-reading accuracy rate on its customer-billing page. The city’s 21 geographic reading areas spread reads across the working days of each month, and occasional inaccessible meters may generate an estimate based on past use that is corrected automatically after an actual read. The reviewed 2026 pages describe handheld monthly AMR-style collection rather than a fully documented two-way AMI deployment.
- New-account deposit
- DWU bills any required deposit on the first bill, but the current public account page does not show a single universal dollar amount. A deposit is waived when the applicant has good DWU credit, is at least 65 years old, owns or is buying the property, provides a guarantee from a person with good DWU credit, or can show 12 consecutive months of timely payments with another utility and no delinquency. Customers who initially qualify for a waiver may later be charged a deposit if they become delinquent or develop unsatisfactory DWU credit. If a security deposit was paid, Dallas says it is credited to the final bill with interest if applicable.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The current DWU account page says there is a small charge for transferring service from one Dallas address to another and that it will appear on the first bill at the new address, but it does not publish the exact 2026 dollar amount. Opening a new account can be requested online, by phone at 214-651-1441, or at the City Hall Customer Service Lobby, Room 2D South, 1500 Marilla Street. New construction or a new connection has separate Planning and Development permits and fees.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Texas
68%
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 Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) – Dallas Water Utility public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- dallasgo.dallas.gov reference ↗
Public URL preserved in the compiled record. Confirm its publisher, date, and applicability before relying on it.
- dallasgo.dallas.gov reference ↗
Public URL preserved in the compiled record. Confirm its publisher, date, and applicability before relying on it.
- dallas.gov reference ↗
Public URL preserved in the compiled record. Confirm its publisher, date, and applicability before relying on it.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (TX0570004) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID TX0570004.