The stormwater management charge on your bill covers the costs of managing and disposing of stormwater throughout the city. This includes maintaining stormwater sumps, drainage ditches, storm sewers and keeping Portland’s streets clear of flooding. It also covers the costs of programs that keep stormwater pollutants out of Portland’s rivers and streams.  Measuring previously un-measured or mis-measured impervious area better aligns actual charges to system impacts and helps minimize future annual rate increases, benefiting all ratepayers system-wide.

It is the city’s policy that all sewer service customers, commercial and residential, share in supporting the costs of these services. We know that not all customers receive all of the benefits at all times. Our goal is to charge for services based on the most fair and equitable billing method and to distribute the system costs as equitably as possible.

Environmental Services bills commercial and multi-family properties for stormwater management based on their proportionate share of the city’s stormwater management service, by using measured impervious area (IA) as a basis for the charge. Environmental Services is in the process of identifying all properties in our service area that have not been assessed charges, have been under-billed, or that have been over-billed.