CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — When residents are asked how the city calculates wastewater charges, most give the same answer: they don’t know.
“I have no idea how my wastewater is calculated,” one resident said. Another added, “I have zero clue.”
They’re not alone. The city doesn’t measure wastewater at all. Instead, it estimates each household’s sewer use based on how much water they consume during the winter.
The process is simple: Corpus Christi Water uses a customer’s average water consumption from the December through February billing cycles to set wastewater charges for the next 12 months.
Inside a small office at City Hall, Reba George, the assistant director of utility billing for Corpus Christi Water, oversees the staff who field thousands of questions about the system. She says winter is used because water use is typically at its lowest.
“They’re not filling their pools or washing their cars… or watering their grass — well, we can’t do that anyway,” George said.
Measuring wastewater directly isn’t practical, she said. “The expense of that would be horrific — not to mention the maintenance of something with all that flowing through it.”
Still, relying on winter averages means even minor issues can have yearlong consequences. A running toilet, a small leak or an unnoticed irrigation problem during those months can significantly raise a customer’s wastewater bill.
For many residents, the system remains a mystery — until the charges show up.
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