Sewer Rate Information

City of Milpitas' Proposed 2023 Sewer Rate Adjustment Details

Our sewer system serves over 16,750 customer accounts and sends an average of 6 to 7 million gallons of sewage to the San Jose/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility daily. The wastewater is treated and either discharged to the San Francisco Bay or recycled for industrial and irrigation purposes.

It's important to have a healthy sewer system for our community and the environment to make sure it can keep up with sewage demands and increasingly stringent regulations. The regional wastewater treatment facility efficiently treats wastewater and prevents pollution from being released into our local waterways.

For the average single family, rates will increase 4% from July 1, 2023 through and including July 1, 2027. Your sewer rates help fund:

  • Sewer maintenance to keep pipes clean, repair and replace aging pipes, and correctly operate pump stations
  • Reduced sanitary overflows due to City professionals who respond to and prevent overflows
  • City's share of costs for treating our wastewater plus a share of the regional treatment facility's capital costs

Key Drivers for Proposed 2023 to 2027 Sewer Rate Increases

  • Pay share of City capital costs at regional wastewater treatment plant: $30.1 million
  • Pipeline replacement and pump station improvements for the critical pipeline connecting to the treatment plant: $26.1 million
  • Replace or rehabilitate City-owned wastewater facilities: $6.4 million
  • Conduct detailed in-pipe condition assessments: $2.1 million

For more information, please review our Water and Wastewater Rate Study (PDF).

Residential Sewer Customer Components

Milpitas has three residential drinking water customer classifications: single-family, multi-family and mobile home parks. Customer classes are based on common sewage characteristics, including the flow and strength of sewage, and common patterns and levels of demands placed on the sewer system by the customer. Sewer charges are based on the flow of each customer classification, the number gallons per day, as determined by the City of San Jose's flow study.

Current Versus Future (2024) Sewer Bill ChartSewer Charges

View a chart demonstrating an average Milpitas residential sewer user and outlines how the change will impact them.

Non-Residential Sewer Customer Charges

Sewer rates include a bimonthly fixed flat fee and an additional volumetric charge measured by every hundred cubic feet of metered water consumed. The fixed flat fee is uniform for all non-residential customer classes and the volumetric component depends on the type of use and each type's shared characteristics of strength and flow of sewage.

Non-residential customers are categorized into several different classes, including commercial customers, monitored sites, non-monitored sites, and institutional customers. The classes are broken down into subcategories.