User Charge Program
The MWRD's User Charge Program was established to administer a fair and orderly system to recover its operations, maintenance, and replacement costs incurred in the treatment and disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, and other wastes generated by facilities in its service area proportional to each individual's use of the collection system and treatment facilities. The MWRD's Pretreatment and Cost Recovery (PTCR) group is responsible for administering the program and reviewing monitoring data collected by Users subject to the User Charge Ordinance and by its own staff.
New or established businesses in the MWRD's service area who suspect they may be a User should contact the PTCR group and submit a Facility Classification Questionnaire so they can be evaluated for any user charges the MWRD may need to recover.
The MWRD maintains a list of Large Commercial-Industrial and Tax-Exempt Users available for download.
User Charge Ordinance (effective January 1, 2026)
User Charge Ordinance (effective January 1, 2025)
Criteria for Privately Owned Magnetic Flowmeters (UC44)
Cook Country Treasure's Office Property Tax Overview
Calculations and Evaluations of the User Charge Rates
The 2025 User Charge Annual Certified Statement (RD-925) is due Friday, February 20, 2026.
The 2025 forms and instructions, in pdf and excel formats, are available via the links below. Please refer to these forms for important dates and User Charge rate information.
Below are the User Charge Rates and OM&R Factor for the past five years. Rates are reviewed and approved by the Board of Commissioners annually as part of Appendix E of the User Charge Ordinance.
| Year |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume (per million gallons) |
$278.81 |
$277.48 |
$282.47 |
$287.56 |
$292.73 |
| 5-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) (per thousand pounds) |
$202.93 |
$181.07 |
$184.33 |
$187.65 |
$191.03 |
| Total Suspended Solids (SS) (per thousand pounds) |
$117.81 |
$123.05 |
$124.16 |
$125.28 |
$126.40 |
| Operations, Maintenance & Replacement (OM&R) Factor |
0.354 |
0.341 |
0.401 |
0.306 |
0.474 |
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) administers the User Charge Program in accordance with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and the Clean Water Act of 1977. The purpose of the User Charge Program is to recover operations, maintenance, and replacement costs from Users in proportion to their use of the District’s sewage collection and treatment facilities.
Because the District’s User Charge Program is funded in part through ad valorem property taxes, Users are defined as entities that discharge non-domestic wastewater and whose calculated User Charge exceeds their applicable ad valorem tax payments. Facilities that meet this condition are required to pay the additional amount directly to the District.
Facilities classified as Large Commercial-Industrial Users and/or Tax-Exempt Users are therefore obligated to make direct payments to the District. The definitions for these and other classifications are provided below as well as in Section 2 of the User Charge Ordinance.
“Large Commercial-Industrial User”
A Large Commercial-Industrial User is any nongovernmental User engaged in commercial or industrial activities that discharges wastes exceeding any of the following thresholds:
- A flow of 25,000 gallons per day, or
- A biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) loading of 25 pounds per day, or
- A suspended solids loading of 35 pounds per day, or
- The User is designated as a Significant Industrial User.
“Residential User”
A Residential User is any nongovernmental, non-tax-exempt owner of a single-family or multi-family residence.
“Small Nonresidential Commercial-Industrial User”
A Small Nonresidential Commercial-Industrial User is any nongovernmental User engaged in non-residential activities that:
- Is not a Significant Industrial User, and
- Discharges wastes that do not exceed any of the following thresholds:
- A flow of 25,000 gallons per day,
- A BOD loading of 25 pounds per day, or
- A suspended solids loading of 35 pounds per day.
“Tax-Exempt User”
A Tax-Exempt User is a User, excluding local government users, that:
- Pays no ad valorem property taxes, or
- Pays ad valorem taxes on some, but not all, facility parcels, such that the taxes paid do not fully offset the User’s Gross User Charges.