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Most of your bill dollars pay for Portland’s sewer, stormwater, and water systems and services. Some charges on your bill pay for other important services, like flood safety infrastructure. Learn more about what your City of Portland utility bill pays for.
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Customer bill changes take effect July 2026
Starting July 1, 2026, customers will see changes on their City of Portland utility bills.
Sewer and stormwater rates will increase 5.15 percent and water rates will increase 8.1 percent. Together, these changes will increase the typical single-family residential customer's bill by 6.36 percent, or about $10.20 per month. The exact change to your bill will depend on your use, property, and account type.
Learn more about the 2026 rate increase and why it's necessary
Also on July 1, 2026, a new Flood Safety Benefit Fee will be added to bill. While the fee will be collected through the utility bill, it is not a sewer, stormwater, or water charge.
Learn more about the Flood Safety Benefit Fee
We're working to manage costs and help those who need it. We offer a broad range of support to customers who need help paying their bills. Learn more about our financial assistance programs, ways to use less water, and other ways to lower your bill.
Where the money from your bill goes
Most of your bill pays for sewer, stormwater, and drinking water services provided by the Bureau of Environmental Services and Portland Water Bureau. The City also collects the Flood Safety Benefit Fee on your bill to fund required payments to the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District.
Drinking water, sewer, and stormwater services
Water systems are complex. Our drinking water system includes two water sources, three treatment facilities, over 2,250 miles of pipe, and much more. Our stormwater and wastewater systems have another 2,500 miles of pipe, thousands of green streets, nearly 100 pump stations, two treatment plants, and many acres of wetlands and waterways.
These systems and the people who work on them ensure:
- Clean, safe drinking water flows from your taps
- Toilets flush and wastewater is treated
- Stormwater is safely managed to prevent pollution and reduce flooding
- Our local waterways stay healthy
Rates pay for our work to operate, maintain, and improve these water systems.
It takes around 1,160 employees to operate and maintain all that infrastructure. We work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round to make sure that Portland's water utilities are safe and reliable.
Many parts of our systems are aging and need to be repaired or replaced. By investing in our systems now, we can prevent system failures, expensive emergency repairs, and service disruptions—and we avoid leaving even bigger costs for future generations of Portlanders.
We also need to buy materials and equipment to treat your water and maintain our infrastructure. This includes things like:
- Construction materials and equipment like concrete, rebar, and heavy machinery
- Infrastructure parts like pipes, valves, and hydrants
- Chemicals and other items we use to treat drinking water and wastewater
- Electricity and fuel to power our facilities and vehicles
Over the past few years, the costs of many of these materials have risen even faster than the rate of inflation. This means we must spend more money to provide the same services.
Your sewer, stormwater, and water charges directly support these critical services.
Breaking down your charges
While most of your utility bill pays for sewer, stormwater, and water services, it also includes charges that support other public services. The graphic above shows how much of your bill dollars go to each of these systems and charges.
- 33.2% of your bill pays for the sewer and wastewater treatment system. This includes the pipes, pumps, and wastewater treatment facilities.
- 25.7% of your bill goes to providing drinking water. This includes keeping your drinking water safe and maintaining pipes, tanks, and hydrants.
- 24.5% of your bill supports the stormwater system, which manages water runoff from hard surfaces like streets, roofs, and parking lots. This system prevents pollution and mitigates flooding.
- 15.6% of your bill represents the base charge. This allows us to provide customer service, billing, and water meter reading.
- 0.7% of your bill funds the City's required payments to the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District. The Flood Safety Benefit Fee helps pay for flood safety infrastructure along the Columbia River.
- 0.4% of your bill goes to the Portland Harbor Superfund. This contributes to the cleanup of the Portland Harbor area in the Willamette River.
Numbers are rounded for clarity. Percentages are based on average residential customer charges. The exact breakdown of the charges on your bill depends on your use, property, and account type.
Where each dollar of your bill goes
Each dollar of your utility bill pays for the following:
Operations and maintenance: $0.45
Running the drinking water, sewer, and stormwater systems requires constant, year-round work. Rates help pay to operate and maintain these systems. This includes proactive maintenance, protecting water quality, following regulations, and controlling pollution.
This essential work
- Keeps safe drinking water flowing to your tap
- Keeps the wastewater treatment process running smoothly
- Manages stormwater to reduce flooding risks and improve the health of our waterways
System improvement projects: $0.13
System improvement projects replace, upgrade, or expand our infrastructure.
Many of these projects replace older parts of our systems. For example, about one-third of Portland's public sewer and stormwater pipes are over 80 years old. Almost one-quarter of our water mains (pipes) were installed before 1930.
Some system improvement projects are larger investments to upgrade and expand key parts of our systems.
Learn more about how your dollars support system improvement projects.
Debt service (loan repayment): $0.30
Debt service is the amount we pay, including principal and interest, on money we've borrowed. We borrow money, using long-term financing like loans and bonds, to pay for large system improvement projects. This spreads out the costs of these large projects over longer time periods. The Big Pipe Project, which has improved the water quality of the Willamette River and made it safe for recreation most days, is an example of a project we're making debt service payments on.
Administrative costs: $0.11
Other expenses related to providing sewer, stormwater, and water services include:
- Transfers to the Rate Stabilization Account, which we use to help pay for improvement projects to limit future rate increases
- Payments to the General Fund for City of Portland services
- Utility license fees
- Pension obligation bond payments
Other charges: $0.01
Other charges that don't pay for sewer, stormwater, and water services make up the rest of your bill:
How your dollars support critical water system improvements
We invest in projects to keep Portland’s sewer, stormwater, and water systems stay safe and reliable for generations to come. System improvement projects:
- Address aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance
- Reduce the risks of emergency failures that are expensive and disruptive to fix
- Prepare our systems for emergencies like earthquakes, wildfires, and climate change
- Ensure we comply with regulations
System improvement projects come in many forms. For example, Environmental Services' Carolina Trunk Sewer Project is replacing a large sewer pipe beneath Interstate 5 in South Portland. The Inverness Pump Station and Force Main Improvement Program includes multiple projects to repair and replace critical force mains (pressurized wastewater pipes) and related infrastructure serving around 60,000 residents and businesses. And at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant, we are completing the final phases of the Secondary Treatment Expansion Program.
The Bull Run Filtration Project is another massive project, led by the Water Bureau. We need this new water treatment facility to comply with regulations and to remove Cryptosporidium from our water. It will also protect our drinking water system from wildfires, earthquakes, and extreme weather.
Projects like these will allow future generations to enjoy our amazing water resources the same way that we have.
Investing in the Bull Run Filtration Project
The Bull Run Filtration Project is an investment in our health and our future. The current cost estimate for the new filtration facility and pipelines is $2.56 billion.
When completed, this investment will:
- Remove sediment (dirt) and microorganisms like Cryptosporidium from our drinking water
- Protect public health
- Better prepare our water system for climate change, earthquakes, wildfires, and extreme weather
The project is funded by the water part of your bill, water revenue bonds, and federal loans.
The revenue bonds and federal loans allow us to spread out the cost of the project over time. This means we can increase rates more slowly over a longer period. However, rate increases are necessary to support this generational investment.
Filtration is a long-term investment in our community. The high upfront costs are worth it to secure our region's water future. Filtration will help us deliver safe, reliable drinking water for generations to come.
Learn more about filtration project costs and funding
System investments help prepare us for a changing climate
Climate change is creating challenges and risks for our essential infrastructure. Climate change increases the risks of wildfires, heavier rains, and other extreme weather. Your dollars help us make our systems more resilient and prepared for emergencies.
When it comes to your drinking water, projects like Bull Run Filtration are more urgent than ever. In August 2023, lightning started the Camp Creek Fire in the Bull Run Watershed, Portland's primary drinking water source. While this fire didn't affect our ability to safely serve Bull Run water, it could have. After a major fire, rains could wash large amounts of dirt, plant debris, and ash into our reservoirs. Even without a fire, heavy rains, storms, or landslides could cause a lot of dirt and plant debris to enter the reservoirs all at once.
The future filtration facility will be able to remove dirt, plant debris, and ash from our water. Learn more about how filtration will prepare us to continue delivering Bull Run water after a major wildfire or natural disaster.
Climate change is also changing how rain falls in Portland. Longer dry periods and more intense storms can increase both drought and flooding, creating new challenges for managing stormwater.
Floodplain restoration projects and green infrastructure investments help us prepare for these changing conditions. Restoring floodplains reduces the amount of stormwater entering our system during storms, helping lower flood risks. Rain gardens and other green infrastructure capture and slow stormwater runoff so it can soak into the ground. These investments also help recharge groundwater and support healthier urban landscapes during hotter, drier periods.
What we’re doing to manage costs
We do our best to work efficiently so we can reduce spending when possible. However, most of our costs can't be reduced without reducing the services we provide.
Water, sewer, and stormwater rates are based on the cost of providing our essential services. This includes ongoing fixed costs like paying electricity bills, paying down debt, fixing broken pipes, and buying chemicals to keep our water safe and meet regulations. It also includes critical long-term investments, like building Water's filtration facility or making upgrades to Environmental Services' treatment plant.
Portlanders depend on us to deliver safe drinking water, treat wastewater, and manage stormwater. The money from your bill directly pays for those services.
We seek to balance the long-term needs of our water systems with financial impacts and other short-term effects on our community. While there are many costs we cannot control, we know that every dollar matters. We do everything we can to keep costs as manageable as possible for customers.
- We plan major infrastructure projects strategically. We shift resources as needed to keep our rate increases predictable year over year.
- When investing in critical projects, we look for cost-saving measures and financing options. For example, the Water Bureau secured federal loans for the Bull Run Filtration Project. We estimate these will save customers about $387 million on the project.
- We invest where and when it matters most. We prioritize repairing and replacing assets that are most likely to break. This helps us avoid more costly emergency repairs in the future.
- We conduct proactive, routine maintenance of our systems. This extends the life of our infrastructure. It also helps us to fix issues before they require more expensive repairs.
- We invest in customer support programs to help those who need it most. We offer a range of programs to help customers manage their bills. If you’re struggling to pay your bill, please reach out to our customer service team to explore options.
Investing in customer support
We don't want anyone to struggle to afford basic and essential services. We're investing in more than our infrastructure—we're investing in support for our customers. We offer a variety of programs to help customers manage and afford their bills.
Here's how you can access these programs:
- Apply for financial assistance. If you qualify, you’ll receive a discount on your bill. You’ll also get access to other help like home water leak repair assistance and crisis vouchers.
- Sign up for the Clean River Rewards discount program. If you qualify, you can save up to 35% on the stormwater portion of your bill.
- If you need more time to pay your bill, request a payment arrangement.
- Our water efficiency program can help you reduce the amount of water you use, which can save on your bill. Learn about more ways to save water.