Right about now, the City is sending out notices about increases in the sewer service charge. This charge appears on your DWP bill, and is related to how much water you use in the winter time. Every winter, the City tracks your water usage and assumes that all that water is going down the drain, because we don't water our lawns much this time of year. This sewer charge goes to build and maintain our sewer system and the water treatment plants.

For a city like LA, the sewer system is massive. There are more than 6,700 miles of pipes carrying more than 400 million gallons every day - that's about 3 times more than the average flow of the LA River. To repair and maintain a growing system, the sewer system charge on your bill is going up. One of the best ways to help keep your sewer charge as low as possible is to reduce your water usage in winter. Keep your showers shorter and consider low-flow toilet converters. And to learn more about the sewer system, visit www.lasewers.com. You can also learn about the charge by a link on the left side of that website.