San Antonio Water System (SAWS)
San Antonio and much of Bexar County
Population reference
2,643,729 people (EPA SDWIS PWS ID TX0150018; 2026 active CWS 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; SAWS describes a monthly water service bill and monthly residential rate charges.
- Rate structure
- Increasing block tiers with a monthly service-availability charge. For 2026 inside-city residential 5/8-inch meters, the water volume rates are $0.907 per 1,000 gallons through 4,000 gallons, $1.678 for the next block through 7,000 gallons, $3.039 through 12,000 gallons, $3.991 through 20,000 gallons, and $5.669 above 20,000 gallons. The service charge increases by $2 when usage exceeds 4,000 gallons. SAWS also lists a $0.102 per-1,000-gallon Uplift Assistance Program fee and separate pass-through or drought-related fees where applicable.
- Residential cost reference
- Approximately $41.95 at 5,000 gallons and $43.87 at 7,000 gallons for a typical inside-city 5/8-inch residential account using the published 2026 base water and sewer schedules plus the Uplift fees, before any TCEQ, Edwards Aquifer Authority, stormwater, drought, or other pass-through charges. Actual bills vary by city-limit status, meter size, winter sewer average, and applicable fees.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- For metered residential accounts, SAWS calculates sewer volume from average monthly water use over the winter averaging period, generally three consecutive billing periods beginning after November 15 and ending around March 15. The resulting average is used for sewer charges for the following service year; irrigation water used in warmer months therefore normally does not raise the sewer-volume basis. New customers without a winter record are billed using a 5,985-gallon monthly default; after the first three months, the lesser of the available three-month average or that default applies until a customer-specific winter average exists. Inside-city 2026 sewer rates are $2.539 per 1,000 gallons through 4,000 gallons and $4.444 above 4,000 gallons, plus the meter-size sewer availability charge and a $0.106-per-1,000-gallon Uplift fee.
- Meter reading
- SAWS completed the system-wide transition from mechanical meters to ConnectH2O electronic meters in 2025. The meters collect hourly readings and transmit them through a secure wireless network, allowing customers to view hourly usage through My Account or the SAWS mobile app, supporting billing and leak/high-use alerts. SAWS reports alerts when continuous use of at least five gallons per hour is detected for more than 48 consecutive hours. A specific customer-facing calendar date for each meter read is not published because the system is electronically read rather than dependent on a monthly walking-reader schedule.
- New-account deposit
- A standard new residential service deposit is $100 according to SAWS Uplift materials. Qualifying Uplift customers may receive a reduced $50 deposit, and domestic-violence deposit waivers are available for eligible applicants with documentation. SAWS also accepts a letter of credit from another utility as a document that may be used to request deposit waiver review. Commercial deposits vary. The current public pages reviewed do not state a universal credit-check rule or a single on-time-payment period for returning or waiving every deposit.
- Activation or transfer fee
- A $10 meter-trip fee is assessed for a new move-in to take the first meter reading and turn on water service. SAWS requires at least five business days’ notice for a transfer, carries an old-account deposit to the new service account, and does not publish a separate universal transfer-administration fee on the current public pages.
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
- San Antonio Water System (SAWS) public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- uplift.saws.org reference ↗
Public URL preserved in the compiled record. Confirm its publisher, date, and applicability before relying on it.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (TX0150018) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID TX0150018.