What's My Water Bill?
Work out your monthly water, sewer, trash and stormwater bill at the April 2026 rates — and see why your sewer charge comes from last winter's usage.
Dodge City bills water, sewer, trash and stormwater on one monthly statement. Put in how much water you used and this works out what that statement should come to at the rates the city adopted for April 2026.
The part most people don't expect: your sewer charge is not based on the water you used this month. It is based on what you used last December, January and February. Watering the lawn in July raises your water charge and leaves your sewer charge alone.
≈ 5,500 gallons
Your bill shows the gallons used. Divide by 1,000 to get the number to enter here — 5,508 gallons is 5.5.
Sewer volume is your Winter Quarter Average — the average of your December, January and February water use. The city recalculates it every March and it holds for the whole year from the April bill. That is why summer irrigation does not push your sewer charge up, and why a leak or a long houseguest in January costs you all year.
1 thousand gallons = 1,000 gallons. The standard residential rate. There is one rate for every thousand gallons — no step-up as you use more.
Your estimated monthly bill
At Rates from the first April 2026 billing rates
$91.75
a month
- Water
- $27.62
- Sewer
- $39.18
- Sanitation (one polykart)
- $23.24
- Storm drainage
- $1.71
- Total
- $91.75
Water includes the monthly base charge, your metered usage, any per-meter fees and sales tax.
Sewer is billed on your winter-average use, so summer watering is not charged as sewage. Sewer is not sales-taxed.
An estimate, not your bill
Why the bills keep rising
Why the bill went up in April
The city commission adopted a rate increase tied to the consumer price index in March 2026 — about 4.68%, which the city put at roughly $3.99 a month for an average household across water, sewer, trash and stormwater. This happens on an annual cycle, so expect another look at the rates next March.
Source: Dodge City Commission, March 2026 (reported by Citizen Journal), checked 25 July 2026 (4 days ago).
The Winter Quarter Average, in plain terms
Nobody meters what goes down your drain, so the city has to estimate it. It uses your winter water use — December, January and February — on the reasoning that in winter almost everything you run through the meter ends up in the sewer, while in summer a lot of it lands on the lawn. Two practical consequences. Watering in summer costs you water, not sewer. And a running toilet or a slab leak over the winter sets a high sewer charge that you then pay every month for a year, even after you fix it — worth a call to the utilities office if that happened to you.
Source: City of Dodge City, Rates and Fees, checked 25 July 2026 (4 days ago).
Worth knowing
What this estimate does not include
It covers the standard set: water, sewer, one trash polykart and stormwater. Extras are billed on top at published amounts — an additional polykart is $15.68, a grass kart is $3.64 each, and the recycling line is $3.14. If your statement carries any of those, add them.
Source: City of Dodge City, Rates and Fees, checked 25 July 2026 (4 days ago).
Late payment costs more than people expect
The $40 delinquency fee posts automatically, no earlier than 5:30 pm on the reminder due date. If your service is then reconnected after business hours there is a further $55. Reconnecting during business hours is cheaper. The utilities office is at 703 W. Trail St, (620) 225-8176; the water division is (620) 225-8170.
Source: City of Dodge City, Rates and Fees, checked 25 July 2026 (4 days ago).
This is an estimate, not your bill
It is the published rates times the usage you enter. Your real statement can differ — a different meter size, an extra kart, a balance carried forward, or a billing period that isn't exactly a month. The city's figures are the ones that count.
Check the rates or pay your bill
- The city's own current rate schedule.
- Rates and fees
- Pay your utility bill
- Pay your utility bill
- Start or stop service, and who to ask about a charge.
- Utility billing