Austin
Austin Water — Utility Compliance Services
In short
Austin Water — Utility Compliance Services issues 2 permits we publish for Austin, last verified 2026-08-21. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backflow Prevention Compliance Feeonly if it applies to you | Austin Water — Utility Compliance Services | $34.44 per year, per high-hazard device | annual | 2026-08-21 |
| Wastewater Discharge Permitonly if it applies to you | Austin Water — Utility Compliance Services | $293.91–$1,096.38 per year, by industrial user category; Categories II to IV add analytical fees | annual | 2026-08-21 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Backflow Prevention Compliance Fee
Charged annually for each high-hazard backflow prevention device on the site under the Water Protection Program. Commercial kitchens, salons and veterinary premises commonly have at least one, and the fee is per device rather than per site, so a building with several multiplies accordingly. Related recurring Austin Water charges on the same schedule: a private fire hydrant is $32.35 a year per hydrant, a site with an active registered water well is $8.89 a month, and an alternate water source such as a lake is $5.50 a month, which does not apply to rainwater harvesting or Austin Water reclaimed water.
Wastewater Discharge Permit
Austin does not issue a standalone grease trap permit, which is why searching for one returns nothing official. A business that discharges to the sewer holds a wastewater discharge permit priced by the category Austin Water assigns it: General Industrial User (Category I) $293.91 a year; Significant Industrial User (Category II) and Major Industrial User (Category III) $836.97 a year each, plus the sum of applicable analytical fees; Categorical Industrial User (Category IV) $1,096.38 a year plus analytical fees. A Descaling Permit is $778.17 and a Utility Piping Permit $758.60. The category is assigned by Austin Water from your discharge characteristics rather than chosen, so treat $293.91 as the floor for a typical food premises and confirm your classification before budgeting. Fees are billed monthly through the standard city utility account as a Monthly Discharge Permit Fee under Wastewater Service, not invoiced separately. Exceeding strength limits triggers industrial waste surcharges on top: biochemical oxygen demand $0.82 per pound above 200 mg/L, chemical oxygen demand $0.3644 per pound above 450 mg/L, total suspended solids $0.77 per pound above 200 mg/L, and ammonia nitrogen $1.887 per pound above 35 mg/L for facilities that use or produce it in manufacturing. A customer-requested re-sampling for surcharge reassessment is $467.90. If waste is hauled away, the hauler permit is $117.94, vehicle inspection or re-inspection $57.27, trip ticket booklets $16.79 each (about $18.18 with sales tax), disposal at the city receiving station $55.52 per 1,000 gallons of truck capacity, and after-hours receiving $338.61 per two-hour interval with a two-hour minimum. On operating the trap itself, City Code section 15-10-197 requires a grease trap to be pumped out at least once every 90 days, or sooner if grease and solids make up 50 per cent or more of the wetted height measured from the bottom of the trap to the invert of the outlet pipe — whichever comes first, so a busy kitchen will usually hit the 50 per cent trigger before the 90 days are up. Note the contrast with Dallas, which sets the same trigger at 25 per cent under its own code, so a chain operating in both cities cannot run one maintenance schedule across them. Waste may only be removed by a liquid waste hauler holding a valid City of Austin permit, and under section 15-10-165 the manifest the hauler gives you after each pump-out must be kept on site for three years.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Austin
- Phone
- Not verified — use the website
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Grease Trap Maintenance — Austin Water, City Code sections 15-10-197 and 15-10-165City of Austin, Austin Water · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-21
- Utility Compliance Services: Selected Rates and Fees, Fiscal Year 2025-2026 — Austin WaterCity of Austin, Austin Water · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
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Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.