Frequently Asked Questions about Iowa American Water

Billing

When is my bill due?
Your water bill is due 20 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?
Iowa 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. {link to bill page}

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 1.866.641.2108.

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.
Iowa American Water will create these payment arrangements only with customers who have not broken a similar agreement with us in the past twelve months.
Iowa American Water’s H2O Help to Others Program® is an emergency bill-paying assistance program funded by Iowa American Water and customers who want to help other customers in need. This emergency assistance program is administered by Community Action of Eastern Iowa. You can contribute to H2O Help to Others Program® by making a pledge that is automatically itemized on your water bill or by adding a $1.00 donation to the amount on your bill. Iowa American Water created this program in 1993. 

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. Visit the Turning Water On/Off page 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 the Clinton district, Iowa American Water is responsible for the distribution main in the street, the service connection from that main to your property line, and the meter located outside or inside your home or place of business. All other water pipes, such as the plumbing system in your home and the service line from your home to the curb stop or property line, are the customer's responsibility to maintain. In the Quad Cities District, Iowa American Water is responsible for the distribution main in the street and the meter located outside or inside your home or place of business. Customers own and are responsible for maintaining all service connections and piping from the water main into their home or business.

Only Iowa American Water personnel are permitted to open outside water meter pits. These outdoor meters should be readily accessible to our meter reading crews. When the meter is located inside your home or business, you have the responsibility to keep your meter accessible and properly protected from severe cold or heat. You may be charged for repairs if your meter freezes, bursts or is damaged due to neglect on your part.

Who do I call to get a water line location?
For information about water line or other utility locations, call Iowa One Call at 1.800.292.8989.

There’s a water leak in my yard. Who do I call?
Start by calling our Customer Service Center at 1.866.641.2108. We’ll help you determine if the leak is your responsibility or ours to repair.

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..641.2108 to report a water main break. We will send a crew out to repair it as soon as possible.

Iowa 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 Iowa 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?
Iowa 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 314.996.2300.

Water Quality

How do I find out about the quality of my drinking water?
Every year Iowa 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.

Iowa American Water’s Quad Cities District was the first water utility in Iowa to be awarded the Partnership for Safe Water Program’s Director’s Award for achievements in high quality drinking water and continual improvements. We remain the only Iowa water utility to be recognized with this prestigious award and have maintained this honor for seven consecutive years. The Partnership for Safe Water is a voluntary initiative developed by the U.S. EPA and other water organizations for water suppliers wanting to provide their communities with drinking water that is far better than required by federal standards.

Iowa American Water joined the partnership in 1995, and is one of only three utilities in Iowa to participate. Currently the Partnership includes 235 water utilities across the nation committed to the enhancement of drinking water quality and operational excellence in water treatment. Iowa American Water prides itself in being an industry leader that proactively joins initiatives and water research efforts to promote high quality water, reliability and exceptional service to customers.

Where does my water come from? How is it cleaned?
Water resources differ from community to community. Clinton’s water source is seven deep wells in four well fields in the Clinton area. The wells average 2,200 feet in depth and supply water of excellent quality, requiring only minimal treatment. Clinton District obtains its water from the Cambrian-Ordovician and Cambrian aquifers. Chlorine is added to the water supply to assure microbiological quality, and fluoride is added to promote strong teeth. A phosphate compound is added to treat the small amount of iron that occurs naturally in well water and to minimize corrosion.

Water for the Iowa Quad Cities is taken from the Mississippi River and treated in Iowa American Water’s state-of-the-art East River Station treatment facility. Our high-tech water treatment plant uses some of the best equipment and technology available to the water industry. The treatment process utilizes conventional coagulation and settling processes, followed by granular activated carbon filtration. The granular activated carbon filtration process is cited by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as one of the most effective treatment technologies for the removal of organic chemicals, such as farm pesticides and industrial wastes. It is also highly effective in eliminating many taste and odor problems.

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

Protecting Your Water Source

The Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) is a result of the 1996 amendments to the
Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Those amendments require all states to establish a program to assess the vulnerability of public water systems to potential contamination. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has prepared Source Water Assessment Reports and Summaries for all public water systems.

In 2003, the Iowa DNR completed an assessment of the Mississippi River watershed in this area. Rivers, streams, and reservoirs are highly susceptible to contamination because of surface run-off. Our water source is considered most vulnerable to contaminants from agricultural and urban run-off. These contaminants include nutrients such as nitrate and phosphorus, and other man-made and natural contaminants.

Due to the depth and confining beds of rock above the aquifers, Clinton’s source of supply has excellent protection from potential sources of contamination. Clinton District’s wells are not susceptible to most contaminant sources except through pathways to the aquifer such as abandoned or poorly maintained wells from other municipal or private wells.

A summary report is available upon request from Iowa American Water by contacting David Kull, Water Quality Supervisor at 563.322.8814.