Frequently Asked Questions about Missouri American Water

Billing

When is my bill due?
Your water bill is due 10 days after the bill is issued. The due date is shown in the top right corner of the bill.

How can I pay my bill?
Missouri American Water offers five ways to pay your bill: by mail, by phone, online, at a nearby payment location and through our automatic bill payment program.

How can I get help paying my bill?
Sometimes customers face circumstances that stretch their financial resources. If you cannot pay your bill by the due date, please contact our Customer Service Center immediately, before the due date. Our customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1.866.430.0820.

When you call, our customer service representatives will work with you on a plan to pay the balance of the bill over time. These payment arrangements require you to:
    • Pay at least 25% of your bill within 48 hours of your call.
    • Pay the rest of the bill, including any applicable late payment charge according to an agreed upon schedule, not to exceed 6 months.
    • Pay all future bills as they become due.
Missouri American Water will create these payment arrangements only with customers who have not broken a similar agreement with us in the past twelve months.
Missouri American Water’s H2O Help To Others® Program is an emergency assistance program created by Missouri American Water and Missouri's Community Action Agencies. The program helps provide supplemental funding to qualified Missouri American Water customers who would otherwise have trouble paying their bills. 

What is the ISRS charge on my bill?
St. Louis County customers may see an ISRS charge included on their bills. ISRS is our Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharge – a means of funding millions of dollars of water system infrastructure improvements at a cost of less than $3.00 per month for most customers.

Missouri American Water uses the ISRS program to replace aging waterlines more quickly, using a planned, systematic approach. In St. Louis County, we maintain more than 4,200 miles of water mains. Throughout our system, many of the older water mains are wearing out due to age and corrosion. The resulting water main breaks can cause service interruptions, damage to property and inconvenience to our customers.

ISRS allows Missouri American water to replace these aging water lines more quickly. We use a systematic approach – identifying the replacement projects with good cost/benefit opportunities.
This infrastructure investment helps reduce the number of water main breaks, improve service reliability and fire protection and enhance the integrity of the water system for future generations.

Service

How do I start and stop my water service?
Our Customer Service Center makes it easy for you to start and stop service. Just call three days before you want service to begin and five days before you want service to end. Click here for more information.

Who owns the meter and the water line in my yard?
There are several water system components that connect homes to our water lines.

In Missouri American Water's St. Louis County operation, which includes part of Jefferson County, the customer owns everything except the water meter itself and the water main in the street or right-of way. The St. Louis County service line drawing illustrates some of the water system connections that are typically found in customers’ yards.

In the rest of our Missouri service areas, the customer owns the water line from the house to the meter. The meter and the water line connecting to the main line (pipes that bring water to your home) is the property of Missouri American Water.

Who do I call to get a water line location?
For information about water main locations, call Dig Rite toll free at 1.800.344.7483 (1.800.DIG.RITE).

There’s a water leak in my yard. Who do I call?
Start by calling our Customer Service Center at 1.866.430.0820. We’ll help you determine if the leak is your responsibility or ours to repair.

In St. Louis County our Service Line Protection Program will help you cover the cost of qualified repairs to water service line breaks. This protection costs only one dollar per month and may save you thousands of dollars in repair costs. Our Customer Service Center representatives can help you apply for the program.

There’s a water main break in my street. What causes this? Who do I call?
Please call our Customer Service Center at 1.866.430.0820 to report a water main break. We will send a crew out to repair it as soon as possible.

Missouri American Water’s distribution system – the pipes that bring quality water to homes, hydrants and businesses – consists of thousands of miles of pipelines. Many were installed 50 to 100 years ago. Older pipes tend to break when the weather gets cold or when the ground is dry and shifting.

For many years Missouri American Water has proactively replaced aging pipelines – prioritizing the replacements based on the cost/benefit opportunities that these projects will provide. We invest in these important projects to make sure that future generations can count on reliable water service.

A water main break caused some damage to my property. Who do I call?
Missouri American Water is committed to restoring customers’ property in cases where a water main break has caused damage.

It’s important to know that the ground around the repair will need to settle for a period of time before the restoration begins. Allowing time for settling means that the restoration work can be done one time, without having to re-do the work after the ground has settled.

You may call our claims department about any damage issues at 314.996.2440.

Water Quality

How do I find out about the quality of my drinking water?
Every year Missouri American Water issues a Consumer Confidence Report that provides extensive information on drinking water quality. These reports are mailed to all customers before July 1 of each year and can also be found online.

All eligible Missouri American Water treatment plants are members of the Partnership for Safe Water. The Partnership is a voluntary initiative developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the American Water Works Association and other water organizations to recognize water suppliers who consistently achieve water treatment standards that surpass EPA regulatory requirements.

Where does my water come from? How is it cleaned?
Water resources differ from community to community. In St. Louis County, your water comes from the Missouri and Meramec Rivers. Our Parkville and Jefferson City operations also take water from the Missouri River. In Joplin, Shoal Creek is the main source of supply with wells supplementing supply during peak pumpage. Well water supplies the rest of the communities that we serve.

Our water treatment plants are designed to effectively treat different water supplies, so each plant is a little different.