Water Rates Rose 4.7% in a Year. Here's How to Cut Your Bill.

On October 14, 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that its consumer price index for water and sewerage maintenance was 4.7% higher in September than a year earlier, while prices overall rose 3.7%. New York City added a 6% rate increase on July 1, and federal lead-pipe replacement duties are due to start in November 2027. For households, every gallon lost to leaks, old toilets and overwatering now costs more, and that is the part of the bill you can control.

Key takeaways

Over five years to September 2026, the BLS water and sewerage index rose 26.2%, against 22.8% for all items. An industry survey of 50 large cities found combined bills up 5.1% in 2025.
Most bills combine a fixed charge with a per-gallon charge. Sewer is often billed on every gallon of water (New York City charges 159% of the water charge) or on an average of winter use (Austin uses a late-fall and winter averaging window).
EPA estimates the average household's leaks waste more than 9,300 gallons a year; its toilet dye test takes 10 minutes.
Illustrative example: replacing a 3.5-gallon-per-flush toilet with a 1.28-gallon WaterSense model saves a two-person household about 8,100 gallons, or about $150 a year at New York City's 2026–27 combined rate.
New York City cuts a leak-inflated bill by up to half, generally only if the leak is repaired and forgiveness is requested in writing within 120 days of the bill.

What it means for you

Homeowners on city water: leaks and old toilets are the quickest wins, and a leak adjustment may recover part of a spike (bill and fixes sections).
Renters billed by the landlord: with a unit submeter, your own savings show up on your bill. With an allocation formula that splits a building's bill, they are shared across every unit. Texas lease disclosure rules are in the FAQ.
Private well households: there is no water rate to rise, but EPA says private well owners are responsible for their own water supply, and every leaked gallon still runs the pump.
Drought-restricted areas: outdoor watering is usually the largest lever, and local watering-day rules come first (fixes section).
Low-income households: the temporary federal water assistance program has ended, so help now comes from utility and local programs (FAQ).

What the price data shows

Two federal indexes track water prices: water and sewerage maintenance (BLS series CUUR0000SEHG01) and the broader water and sewer and trash collection services (CUUR0000SEHG), which adds garbage pickup. The figures compare September values, not seasonally adjusted, from the September 2026 CPI release.

BLS index (US city average)	Past 12 months	Past 5 years	Past 10 years
Water and sewerage maintenance	+4.7%	+26.2%	+48.1%
Water and sewer and trash collection	+4.8%	+27.2%	+50.3%
All items	+3.7%	+22.8%	+39.6%

Water prices have outrun general inflation by about one percentage point in the last year and about 3.3 points over five years: steady, not explosive. The CPI tracks rates, not bills, so a household that uses less water can see its bill rise more slowly than the index.

Industry data points the same way. Bluefield Research's 2026 rate index, a private survey of 50 large US cities, found combined water and sewer bills up 5.1% from 2024 to 2025 and 24.2% over five years.

Why utilities keep raising rates

Bluefield attributes the increases to aging infrastructure, urban growth, water-quality regulations and workforce costs. Three federal obligations explain much of the regulatory part.

Lead service lines

EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, finalized on October 8, 2024, require water systems to replace lead and certain galvanized service lines under their control within 10 years, with limited exceptions and regardless of measured lead levels. According to EPA's rule FAQ, baseline inventories and replacement plans are due November 1, 2027. The rule is under challenge: in American Water Works Association v. EPA (No. 24-1376), brought by a utility trade group, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument on September 30, 2026. As of October 14, 2026, the court had not published a decision, and a ruling could change these requirements or their timing.

PFAS limits

In April 2024, EPA set enforceable limits for six PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, in drinking water, including 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS. On May 18, 2026, EPA announced two proposed rules. One keeps the PFOA and PFOS limits but lets systems request two more years beyond the original 2029 deadline, to 2031, to comply. The other would rescind the limits for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and a mixture of PFAS. Both are proposals. Either way, systems above the PFOA and PFOS limits will need treatment or a new water source, both capital costs.

Sewer consent decrees

On the sewer side, under a 2010 consent decree, Kansas City, Missouri, agreed to sewer work that EPA's 2010 announcement estimated would cost more than $2.5 billion over 25 years. Obligations like this run for decades.

How to read your water bill

Most residential bills have two parts. A fixed charge (also called a base, service or minimum charge) is due even at zero use. A volumetric charge is billed per unit of water. Usage is measured in gallons or hundreds of cubic feet (CCF), where one CCF is 748 gallons. Some utilities use tiered rates that charge more per unit at higher use. Conservation lowers only the volumetric part, and only above any minimum charge.

From July 1, 2026, New York City's rate schedule charges $5.35 per 100 cubic feet for water and $8.51 for wastewater, or $13.86 combined, which is about $18.53 per 1,000 gallons. The Water Board's adoption notice confirms the 6.0% increase, a water minimum charge of $0.49 a day, and wastewater at 159% of water charges. Under the FY2027 rate schedule, the minimum is billed per meter whenever metered water charges would be lower. That works out to about 68 gallons a day ($0.49 ÷ $5.35 × 748), so a property on one meter using less than that sees no water-charge saving from cutting further.

When sewer follows winter use

Austin Water uses wastewater averaging: a home's sewer volume for the next year is set from water use over three late-fall and winter months tied to the billing cycle (December 1, 2026, to March 1, 2027, for one cycle).

A leak running through that window raises sewer charges for a year. A leak outside the window raises only the water charge. Where this method applies, the cheapest moment to fix a leak is before the averaging period starts. Residential accounts with fewer than 60 days of service, or with under 100 gallons billed in two or more of the three months, get a 5,000-gallon default instead.

Leak adjustments have strict conditions

New York City's Leak Forgiveness Program is set out in Part IV, Section 5 of the Water Board's rate schedule effective July 1, 2026. The main conditions:

The high bill was a metered bill, and daily use was at least 200% of the last representative bill (150% if the prior period included at least 180 days of estimated billing).
The leak was repaired within 120 days of the original high bill. DEP can extend that by up to 180 days if a licensed plumber shows the leak could not reasonably have been found sooner.
The forgiveness request was made in writing, or as a DEP-documented review request, within 120 days of that bill.
The customer allowed any DEP leak inspection it requested and fixed any leak it found within 10 days.
No forgiveness was granted for the same premises in the previous two years.

The bill is reduced by up to half, but not below 150% of what the property's typical daily usage would cost over the same period at the rates then in effect. If the calculated reduction is under $50, the credit is $50. Proof of repair is a working automatic meter reading or a dated, itemized plumber's bill.

This section is general educational information about utility billing, not financial or legal advice; rates and rules vary by utility and state.

Fixes that cut the most water

Find silent leaks first

EPA's Fix a Leak Week page estimates the average household's leaks waste more than 9,300 gallons a year, and puts the saving from fixing easy leaks at about 10% of a water bill. At New York City's combined rate, 9,300 gallons costs about $172. EPA's two basic tests:

Toilet dye test: put a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If color shows in the bowl after 10 minutes without flushing, the toilet is leaking, usually through a worn flapper.
Winter usage check: EPA says a family of four using more than 12,000 gallons in a winter month may have serious leaks.

EPA says a faucet dripping once per second wastes more than 3,000 gallons a year, and an in-ground irrigation leak 1/32 of an inch wide can waste about 6,300 gallons a month.

Illustrative example: replacing an old toilet

New toilets may use up to 1.6 gallons per flush under the federal standard; WaterSense-labeled models use 1.28 or less. The East Bay Municipal Utility District aims its toilet rebate at toilets installed before 1994 that use 3.5 gallons per flush or more. The formula:

annual savings ($) = people × flushes per person per day
                     × (old gpf − new gpf) × 365
                     × rate per 1,000 gallons ÷ 1,000

Here gpf is gallons per flush, and the rate is the combined volumetric water and sewer price. Assumptions: two people, 5 flushes each per day, a 3.5 gpf toilet replaced by a 1.28 gpf model, and New York City's 2026–27 combined rate of about $18.53 per 1,000 gallons.

Water saved: 2 × 5 × 2.22 × 365 = 8,103 gallons a year (12,775 gallons down to 4,672).
At $18.53 per 1,000 gallons: about $150 a year.
Where sewer is not billed on each gallon (for example, outside a winter-averaging window), only the water rate counts. At New York's water rate alone, about $7.15 per 1,000 gallons, that is about $58 a year.

The saving is large only when the old toilet really uses 3.5 gallons or more. Replacing a 1.6 gpf toilet with a 1.28 gpf one saves only about 1,170 gallons, or about $22 a year at the same rate. To try your own household, enter gallons per flush, flushes per month and your price per gallon in the running cost calculator.

Showers and outdoor watering

WaterSense showerheads use no more than 2.0 gallons per minute, against 2.5 for standard models. EPA estimates the average family saves 2,700 gallons and over 330 kilowatt-hours a year (from heating less water).

Outdoor use averages about 30% of household water nationally and runs higher in dry regions. EPA estimates up to half of outdoor water is lost to wind, evaporation and runoff. Replacing a clock timer with a WaterSense weather- or soil-moisture-based controller can save an average home up to 15,000 gallons a year. In drought-restricted areas, set the controller to the permitted days first.

Frequently asked questions

Is there still federal help paying water bills?

Not as a dedicated program. The Low Income Household Water Assistance Program was pandemic-era emergency funding. According to the federal Administration for Children and Families, funds originally had to be obligated by September 30, 2023 and spent by December 31, 2023. The 89 grant recipients that received a six-month extension had until March 31, 2024 to obligate funds and June 30, 2024 to spend them.

Local programs fill part of the gap. New York City, for example, renewed bill credits of up to $196 per eligible property and $250 per eligible affordable apartment for 2026–27. Ask your utility what discounts or payment plans it offers.

How do you find out if a home has a lead service line?

Ask your water system for its service line inventory. EPA's rule FAQ says systems had to make initial inventories publicly accessible by October 16, 2024, and must update them into a baseline inventory by November 1, 2027. Replacement plans are also due by November 1, 2027, and systems serving more than 50,000 people must publish theirs online.

What should a renter on a submetered bill check?

The lease terms. In Texas, for submetered or allocated billing, 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 24.279 requires the rental agreement to state the billing method, the average, highest and lowest monthly bills for all units in the previous calendar year, how long the owner has to repair leaks, and the tenant's right to information to verify the bill. Other states' rules differ.

Why might my bill rise even if I use less water?

Because the rate can rise faster than use falls. Under a 6.0% rate increase like New York City's, a household that cuts its use by 5% still pays about 0.7% more for the same billing period (1.06 × 0.95 = 1.007). The saving is real but measured against what the bill would have been.

How can a hidden leak be confirmed?

Use the meter. EPA's method is to read the meter, use no water for two hours, then read it again; if the reading changed at all, there is probably a leak.

A 30-minute water bill checkup

Find the fixed charge, the volumetric rate and the billing unit on your latest bill, and convert the rate to dollars per 1,000 gallons (CCF rate ÷ 0.748).
Find out how your sewer charge is set: every gallon, or a winter average. If it is a winter average, schedule fixes before the averaging months.
Run the dye test on every toilet and the two-hour meter test.
If a bill already spiked, read your utility's leak adjustment terms, note the deadline from the bill date, and keep the repair receipt.
Price a toilet or showerhead swap with the formula above and your own rate.
Before spring, inspect irrigation for leaks and set the controller to local watering rules.