LADWP Sewer Rates for Los Angeles Apartment Buildings: 2026 Guide

Planet Optima is a Los Angeles utility rebate implementation partner. It replaces toilets in multifamily buildings (5+ units) at no cost to the owner through LADWP-funded programs, and it has replaced 500,000+ toilets across Southern California in 15+ years.

LADWP sewer rates will have more than doubled by July 2028. The LA City Council approved seven rate increases between October 2024 and July 2028, taking sewer charges from $5.80 per HCF to $11.96 per HCF, a 106% increase. Five of them are already in effect, and as of July 1, 2026 the rate is $10.13 per HCF. A 100-unit apartment building that paid about $42,000 a year in sewer charges in 2024 will pay about $87,000 a year by July 2028. That is roughly $45,000 more per year. It is not a projection. It is the approved rate schedule (City Ordinance 188363).

LADWP Sewer Rate Schedule: Every Increase Through 2028

LADWP sewer service charges sat at $5.80 per HCF (hundred cubic feet, about 748 gallons) from 2020 through September 2024, with no change in four years.

That ended in October 2024. The LA City Council approved seven consecutive sewer rate increases spanning four years, based on the Black & Veatch wastewater cost of service study prepared in May 2024. The revenue funds repairs and upgrades to LA’s 6,700-mile sewer collection system and four wastewater treatment plants.

These are approved rates, not proposals. Every increase listed below is already locked in, and as of July 1, 2026 the charge is $10.13 per HCF, the fifth of the seven steps.

The sewer rate goes from $5.80 to $11.96 per HCF, a 106% increase in four years. Source: the City of Los Angeles rate schedule (Ordinance 188363), set from the Black & Veatch wastewater cost of service study (May 2024).

The first increase, 22% overnight in October 2024, caught many building owners by surprise. Four more followed between March 2025 and July 2026, and the last two land in July 2027 and July 2028. By the time the last increase takes effect, apartment buildings in LADWP territory will pay more than double their 2024 sewer rate on every unit of water that goes down the drain.

How LADWP Calculates Sewer Charges for Apartment Buildings

Most building owners don’t realize how their sewer bill is calculated. Understanding the formula explains why the number on your bill is so much higher than the per-HCF rate suggests.

LADWP uses the return-to-sewer factor, a multiplier applied to your total water use. For commercial accounts (including apartment buildings with 5+ units on a single meter), that factor is 93%. LADWP assumes 93 out of every 100 gallons of water you buy ends up in the sewer system.

The formula:

Water use (HCF) × 0.93 × sewer rate per HCF = sewer charge

Buildings with 5 or more units on one meter are classified as “multiple dwelling” and billed as commercial. If your building has 1-4 units, LADWP uses a different method based on winter water use, but the vast majority of apartment buildings fall into the commercial category.

How it’s calculated for a 100-unit apartment building

• Water use: 650 HCF a month (the one assumption behind every sewer cost on this page: 6.5 HCF per unit per month, about 160 gallons per unit per day)
• Return-to-sewer factor: × 0.93, so 604.5 HCF a month (7,254 HCF a year) is billed as sewer
• At the 2024 rate ($5.80): 604.5 × $5.80 = $3,506 a month, or $42,073 a year
• At the July 2026 rate ($10.13): 604.5 × $10.13 = $6,124 a month, or $73,483 a year
• At the July 2028 rate ($11.96): 604.5 × $11.96 = $7,230 a month, or $86,758 a year
• Increase over 2024: $44,685 a year, roughly $45,000

LADWP bills sewer on 93% of every gallon a 5+ unit building buys. Source: LADWP’s commercial sewer service charge method (“0.93 x total purchased water”) and the City’s May 2024 cost of service study, which uses the same 93% return factor for large multifamily buildings.

Here’s what makes this painful: every gallon of water that flows through your building gets billed twice, once as water use and again as sewer discharge at 93% of that usage.

This is the double-bill mechanism. Old toilets that waste water don’t just inflate your water bill. They inflate your sewer bill by nearly the same amount. It means every gallon you save reduces two charges on the same bill. Most owners underestimate the impact of water reduction because they forget about the sewer side.

What Your Building Pays: Sewer Costs by Building Size

Your building size determines the raw dollar impact of these rate increases. Below are estimated annual sewer costs at three rate milestones: 2024 (the baseline), July 2026 (the current rate) and July 2028 (the final approved increase).

Every row uses the same assumption: 6.5 HCF of water per unit per month, multiplied by the 93% return-to-sewer factor and the approved sewer rate. A recent 60-day LADWP bill for a 16-unit building that Planet Optima reviewed showed 204 HCF of water (about 6.4 HCF per unit per month) and 187 HCF billed as sewer. Actual costs depend on building-specific usage patterns, occupancy, and fixture condition.

A 100-unit building’s sewer bill goes from about $42,000 a year in 2024 to about $87,000 a year in July 2028. Source: the approved sewer rate schedule and the usage assumption above.

For a 20-unit building, that’s an extra $8,937 per year, roughly $447 per unit. Owners think in per-door numbers, and this one is hard to ignore.

For a 50-unit building, you’re looking at $22,342 more per year by 2028 than you paid in 2024.

For a 100-unit building, the annual increase is $44,685. That’s about $3,724 per month in additional costs with no additional revenue to offset it.

For a 200-unit building, the increase is $89,370 more per year on a single line item.

These numbers scale linearly. If you manage a 500-unit portfolio, multiply the 100-unit figure by 5. The math doesn’t get better at scale. It gets worse.

The 5-Year Cost of Inaction

Here’s the number most building owners don’t calculate: the cumulative cost of doing nothing.

Sewer rates keep climbing to the next step. The increases don’t pause. They stack. And the total cost of delay compounds faster than most owners expect.

The table below shows the cumulative excess cost, the total amount more you’ll pay over 1, 3, and 5 years compared to 2024 rates.

Extra cost = sewer charges above what the same water use cost at the 2024 rate of $5.80 per HCF, using the same 6.5 HCF per unit per month and the 93% return-to-sewer factor, with water use held flat. Year 1 runs July 2026 to June 2027 at $10.13, year 2 at $11.01, and years 3 to 5 at $11.96, since no increase after July 2028 has been approved.

A 100-unit building pays about $203,000 more in sewer charges over five years than it would at 2024 rates. Source: the approved LADWP sewer rate schedule and the usage assumption above.

Owners who call their water bills “insanely high” and “skyrocketed” on forums aren’t exaggerating. A 100-unit building will pay over $200,000 in additional sewer charges over the next five years compared to what it paid in 2024. That money comes directly out of NOI.

Replacing old toilets doesn’t stop these rate increases, but it shrinks the water volume they apply to. Every month of delay isn’t a neutral decision. It’s an expense. At July 2026 rates, a 100-unit building that keeps its old toilets gives up about $2,100 a month in water and sewer savings (the $25,000 a year that toilet replacement saves), and that number grows each time the next sewer rate kicks in.

The cost of inaction isn’t a marketing phrase. It’s arithmetic.

Water Rates Change Too: LADWP Schedule B

Sewer rates aren’t the only line item that moves. Water rates for apartment buildings change at the same time.

Apartment buildings with 5+ units fall under LADWP’s Schedule B (Multiple Unit Residential). These rates are adjusted every January and July through pass-through adjustment factors.

Source: LADWP Schedule B (Multiple Unit Residential), total consumption charge per HCF within the City of Los Angeles, as published and checked September 24, 2026.

Water rates don’t have the same locked-in multi-year trajectory that sewer rates do. Tier 1 dipped to $10.885 per HCF for July to December 2026, and LADWP has already published $11.243 for January to June 2027. And LADWP’s Phase 2 conservation rules for apartment buildings add enforcement pressure on top of rising sewer charges.

Key Takeaway: Every gallon saved reduces two charges on the same bill. At July 2026 rates, each HCF saved takes $10.885 off the Tier 1 water charge and about $9.42 off the sewer charge (0.93 × $10.13), so the value of cutting water use is nearly double what most owners calculate when they only look at the water side.

How to Reduce Your Building’s Sewer Bill

There are four ways to reduce sewer charges on a multifamily building in LADWP territory. They are not equally effective.

1. Replace old toilets through LADWP’s program: Old toilets rated at 1.6 GPF (gallons per flush) or higher are a major source of controllable water waste in apartment buildings. Planet Optima replaces them with 0.9 GPF WaterSense-certified models, which reduces both water use and sewer charges. The LADWP toilet rebate program for apartment buildings pays $300 per toilet when a toilet rated 1.6 GPF or higher is replaced with one rated 1.1 GPF or less, and LADWP funding covers the full cost. Savings: approximately $25,000/year on a 100-unit building.

2. Fix leaks: Sub-meter monitoring and regular leak detection can save $2,000-$5,000/year depending on building condition. But this requires investment ($500-$5,000+ for detection and repairs) and ongoing attention.

3. Apply for a sewer adjustment with LA Sanitation: If your building’s actual sewer discharge is lower than the 93% assumption, you can apply for an adjustment through LA Sanitation and Environment (LASAN, formerly the Bureau of Sanitation). The application costs nothing, but the process takes 60-90 days, requires documentation, and results vary.

4. Install low-flow showerheads and aerators: Showerhead and faucet replacements can save $1,000-$2,000/year. They have a lower impact than toilets, but they take little effort and cost little ($500-$2,000 for parts).

Toilet replacement saves a 100-unit building about $25,000 a year, at no cost to the owner. The estimate assumes about 125 toilets (roughly 1.25 per unit), each saving 10 HCF of water a year, a conservative figure from Planet Optima’s measured billing data in its case studies. At July to December 2026 rates, 1,250 HCF × ($10.885 water + 0.93 × $10.13 sewer) = about $25,400.

The two 100-unit numbers on this page measure different things. The $45,000 is how much more the sewer bill costs each year by July 2028 than it did in 2024. The $25,000 is what replacing old toilets takes off the combined water and sewer bill each year at July 2026 rates.

The comparison is not subtle. One strategy delivers at least five times the savings of any other on this list, costs nothing to implement, and requires a single authorization form from the building owner.

For eligibility, the installation process and the fixtures themselves, read the complete guide to LADWP’s toilet replacement program.

LADWP’s No-Cost Toilet Replacement Program

If your building qualifies, LADWP will fund 100% of the cost to replace every old toilet in your building. It is not a loan, and you do not buy anything up front. Planet Optima handles the paperwork and the installation, the program pays the rebate to the account holder on the water bill, and Planet Optima invoices only that rebate amount after it arrives.

Here’s how it works:

1. Building assessment: Verify eligibility, count fixtures, confirm rebate qualification
2. LADWP approval: Paperwork submitted; approval in about 10 business days
3. Scheduling: Installation coordinated around tenant schedules
4. Installation: Up to 50 toilets per day, 20 minutes per unit, licensed professional crews; WaterSense-certified, MaP-tested 0.9 GPF fixtures
5. Completion: Old toilets removed, rebate filed, savings start immediately

Eligibility requirements: 5+ units, existing toilets rated 1.6 GPF or higher (common in buildings built or last renovated before 2014), a building in LADWP service territory, and an owner or authorized manager on the water account.

The cost to you: Zero, net. LADWP’s $300 commercial rebate covers the fixture, installation, and removal. There is no capital outlay, no hidden charge and no catch.

You sign one form, and everything else is handled.

Planet Optima has replaced 500,000+ toilets across Southern California. The team handles the eligibility check, the LADWP paperwork, tenant scheduling and the installation.

The financial math is straightforward. A 100-unit building saves approximately $25,000 per year in combined water and sewer charges. At a 5% cap rate, for example, every $1 saved in annual operating expenses is worth about $20 in property value. On that basis a 100-unit building saving $25,000 a year adds roughly $500,000 in value.

The LADWP toilet rebate program page lists the eligibility requirements in full.

Compliance Pressure Adds Cost Risk (2026-2027)

Sewer rates aren’t the only thing tightening. California water regulations are converging on multifamily buildings from multiple directions.

“Making Conservation a California Way of Life”: Supplier compliance begins January 1, 2027. The regulation applies to urban retail water suppliers like LADWP, not directly to individual apartment owners, but it increases pressure on LADWP to push conservation tools and enforcement. Old toilets are one of the simpler indoor fixtures to address.

EBEWE (Existing Buildings Energy & Water Efficiency Ordinance): Buildings over 20,000 sq. ft. in Los Angeles must benchmark and report their energy and water use every year, due June 1. They must also complete an audit and retro-commissioning every five years, due December 1 of the cohort year set by the last digit of the LADBS Building ID.

LADWP unreasonable water use penalties: When LADWP began enforcing this ordinance in October 2016, it aimed it at its highest single-family users. Under Phase 2, a property on a water budget that does not follow its conservation plan faces penalties starting at $1,000 per month and rising to $4,000 per month. The often-cited $40,000 per month ceiling applies only under Phase 5 enforcement.

The pressure isn’t hypothetical. Rates are doubling on one side. Regulatory pressure is tightening on the other. LADWP is still funding the fix while the indoor efficiency case is easy to make.

The California water compliance guide for apartment buildings covers each rule and its date, and LADWP’s 2026 water restrictions for apartments covers the current watering rules and fines.

Key Takeaway: Sewer rates are doubling. Supplier-level conservation pressure is increasing. LADWP is still funding the fix. Acting while the program is available is strategically easier than waiting for tighter enforcement later.

What to Do Next

LADWP sewer rates rise again in July 2027 and July 2028, and both increases are approved and locked in. Every month your building runs on old fixtures, it pays more than it has to, on both the water and sewer side of the bill.

LADWP is funding the fix right now, at zero cost to you. If your building has 5 or more units and toilets rated 1.6 GPF or higher, it likely qualifies for LADWP’s no-cost toilet replacement program. Check your building’s eligibility with one form, which takes about five minutes and carries no obligation.