Upland, San Bernardino County, California
What a Plumber Upland Residents Call Learns From a Cap Table
Ask most cities where the water comes from and the answer is a river, an aquifer or a wholesale contract. Upland answer is a set of shareholdings. The city states that its water interests are the result of either a direct water right or, indirectly, of its shareholder interest in two private mutual water companies, and it publishes the percentages: 93 per cent of West End Consolidated Water Company, and 68 per cent of San Antonio Water Company.
On top of that it holds a 22 per cent interest in an imported water treatment plant, and adjudicated groundwater rights in three basins, each managed by a Watermaster under a court decree. None of that is decoration. It explains why the supply is stable, why the surface component swings with the snowpack, and why the city can offer some services on your side of the meter that other utilities will not.
Held as Equity, Not Bought as Volume
The Three Stakes and What Each One Buys
The city sets this out on its own water division page, and reading it as a portfolio rather than as a plumbing document is what makes it useful. The city says water is an extremely important commodity and that it has acquired water rights over the years to ensure this resource would be available for the benefit of the community. That is an accurate description of what these holdings are.
| Holding | Interest | What it delivers |
|---|---|---|
| West End Consolidated Water Company | 93 per cent shareholder interest | Local groundwater |
| San Antonio Water Company | 68 per cent shareholder interest | Local groundwater, plus surface water from San Antonio Canyon treated at the city own San Antonio Water Treatment Plant |
| Water Facilities Authority, Agua de Lejos plant | 22 per cent interest | Capacity in an 81 million gallon imported water treatment plant on Benson Avenue north of 17th Street |
| Chino, Cucamonga and Six Basins | Adjudicated groundwater rights | Production under court decrees, each basin overseen by a designated Watermaster |
| Metropolitan Water District, through Inland Empire Utilities Agency | Member agency relationship | Northern California State Water Project water, treated at the Agua de Lejos plant |
The surface water line is the one with a plumbing consequence. The city notes that the San Antonio Canyon surface water supply is subject to availability and is closely tied to rain and snowpack, which means the smallest component of the mix is also the most variable one. In 2025 it accounted for about 3 per cent of demand.
The two mutual water companies are private companies in which the city is the majority or near-majority shareholder rather than the customer. That is a different relationship from the wholesale contracts most cities on this site rely on, and it is the reason the city can describe its water as something it owns rather than something it buys.
The 2025 Numbers
Eighty Per Cent From the Ground, Across Twenty Wells and Three Owners
The city publishes the split for 2025 and the well counts behind it. Groundwater fulfils 80 per cent of customer needs, with about 5.5 billion gallons pumped from nine City of Upland wells, seven San Antonio Water Company wells and four West End Consolidated Water Company wells. Surface water fulfils 3 per cent, with about 224 million gallons processed through the city San Antonio Canyon Water Treatment Plant. Imported water fulfils 17 per cent, flowing via the State Water Project to Lake Silverwood north of the City of San Bernardino.
Twenty wells owned by three different organisations, all feeding one distribution system, is the practical face of the shareholding arrangement. A household cannot tell which of the three pumped the water in its kettle, and does not need to, but it is why an outage or a maintenance programme can have a cause that is not a city cause.
Recycled water is a fourth stream and it is not for drinking. The city used 196 million gallons of it for green belts and various sites, and states it is predominantly available in the southeastern sector, going to large landscape irrigation such as the Upland Hills Country Club golf course, city parks, several school grounds and the Euclid Avenue median. That programme dates from 2013, when Inland Empire Utilities Agency completed regional pipeline facilities and began delivering recycled water.
A Court Decides How Much Comes Out
Adjudicated Basins, and Why That Matters to a Household
The city states that it holds adjudicated groundwater rights in the Chino, Cucamonga and Six Basins, and that these adjudicated groundwater basins are actively managed and overseen by a designated Watermaster in accordance with their respective court decrees. In plain terms, the amount of water that can be produced from the ground here was settled by litigation and is policed by an appointed officer, not decided year by year by whoever owns a pump.
For a household that translates into predictability. A supply governed by a decree does not swing with a drilling decision, which is part of why groundwater can carry 80 per cent of demand in a dry region. It is also why the city talks about interests and entitlements rather than about capacity.
What we are deliberately not doing is quoting any production right in acre-feet. The Watermaster documents were not opened for this page, the numbers move with annual determinations, and a figure of that kind put on a plumbing page would be stale before it was useful.
The relevant point for anyone comparing water bills across the Inland Empire is simply that Upland sits at the meeting point of three adjudicated basins and holds rights in all of them. Neighbouring builds sit on our Rancho Cucamonga page.
Four Streams, One System
What Actually Reaches an Upland Tap
Groundwater, 80 per cent
About 5.5 billion gallons in 2025 from twenty wells, nine belonging to the city and eleven to the two mutual water companies it holds shares in.
Imported, 17 per cent
State Water Project water reaching Lake Silverwood, delivered through Metropolitan Water District and Inland Empire Utilities Agency and treated at Agua de Lejos.
Local surface, 3 per cent
About 224 million gallons from San Antonio Canyon through the city own treatment plant. The city says this one is closely tied to rain and snowpack.
Recycled, not for drinking
196 million gallons for green belts, the golf course, parks, school grounds and the Euclid Avenue median, mostly in the southeastern sector, delivered since 2013.
Reading those four together explains something a lot of Inland Empire households ask about, which is why local water quality conversations here are about mineral content and treatment rather than about supply. Four fifths of the water has been underground, and the city is a majority shareholder in most of the wells producing it.
We are not quoting a hardness figure on this page, and the reason is worth stating rather than hiding. The Upland 2025 Consumer Confidence Report downloads perfectly and its text does not extract, which is a font encoding problem rather than a missing document. If the number matters for sizing a softener, read the report itself or test at your own tap.
A Service Other Cities Do Not Offer
Upland Public Works Will Conduct a Water Pressure Test
Buried in an unremarkable list of city water services is something no other city on this site publishes. Upland Public Works states that its water services include addressing city side water leaks, maintenance of city water meters, exercising of service stops, and conducting water pressure tests.
That last item is genuinely useful, because pressure is the variable behind a surprising share of household plumbing complaints and it is the one homeowners are least equipped to measure. Knowing that the utility itself will take a reading changes the order of a diagnosis: you can establish what is arriving at the property before anybody starts theorising about what is happening inside it.
Two caveats the city attaches. Customer service fees may apply for some water services, and any fees applied will be charged to the property owner water bill, so this is not necessarily free. And the service is requested through Public Works on (909) 291-2930, in person at the Public Works building on North Benson Avenue, or through the city online request system, rather than through the billing department.
The billing side is a separate telephone number and a separate department, which is worth knowing before you dial. Questions about the water utility bill, or starting and ending service, go to Finance. Our general treatment of the diagnostic side sits on the leak detection page.
Before You Ask for One
When a Pressure Test Is the Right Next Step
A pressure reading is cheap information and it rules a lot of things in or out at once. These are the situations where getting one early saves money, rather than getting it after two or three parts have already been replaced.
- A relief valve on the water heater that discharges after a heating cycle rather than continuously.
- Fill valves, cartridges or flexible connectors failing across the whole house rather than at one fixture.
- Banging or hammering that appeared without any change to the plumbing.
- A pressure complaint that only shows up at certain times of day, which points at the supply rather than the house.
- Any argument about whether a leak is on the city side of the meter or yours, since the city names city side leaks as its own responsibility.
- Before sizing or setting a regulator, rather than afterwards.
None of that is a diagnosis, and a reading is a starting point rather than an answer. But it is a fact rather than an opinion, and it comes from the organisation that owns the main. In a city where the supply arrives from twenty wells, an imported plant and a canyon, knowing what is actually reaching the meter is worth more than usual.
Where the reading points at something inside the house, that is private plumbing and the city services list stops at the meter. The equipment side is covered on our water heater repair and fixture repair pages.
Annual, and Administered by Somebody Else
How Backflow Testing Works in Upland
The requirement is state law rather than local preference. Upland states that State of California regulations require all municipal water systems to implement a cross-connection control program, and that it is consequently necessary for the city to establish and maintain one ensuring all containment devices are protected and tested annually. It defines the hazard in ordinary terms too, naming irrigation systems and fire protection systems as the sort of connection the rule exists for.
What is unusual is who does the paperwork. As of 1 October 2017 the city partnered with a backflow data management firm which sends assembly due and past due notifications on behalf of the City of Upland, and contractors now have to submit test results online through that firm system rather than to the city directly. So the letter reminding you that a test is due arrives from a private company acting for the city.
The city is careful to say what has not changed, and it is the part people misread. You will still need to call your contractor to schedule your annual backflow assembly test. The outsourcing covers the notice and the record, not the booking, and a notice sitting unopened does not book anything.
The city also publishes sample notice and past due letters so a genuine notification can be told apart from anything else that arrives looking official, which is a sensible thing to check before responding to a letter about a device on your property.
Dates Worth Having
Rates, Inventories and One Unusual Permit
Three dated items sit around the plumbing side of city business and are worth knowing about because each one changes something. The Upland City Council adopted Resolution 6805, which set new water rates effective 1 November 2024. A Proposition 218 public hearing was scheduled for Monday 8 June 2026 to consider proposed rate adjustments to the city water, recycled water and sewer service charges, which if adopted by the council would become effective 1 July 2026.
We are not quoting any rate figure on this page. A live Proposition 218 process means the numbers in circulation may be proposals rather than charges, and printing either set would be misleading within weeks. The city publishes the rate documents and the notice mailer, and that is where the current figures belong.
On lead, the city states that between September and October 2024 the Upland Utilities Division conducted an inventory of water service lines, focusing on homes built before 1987 and other customer groups, as part of following EPA regulations requiring public water systems to develop a comprehensive inventory of lead service lines. The pre-1987 focus is the useful part for a homeowner, because it tells you which era of construction the utility itself considers worth checking.
And one permit worth flagging because it catches people out: the city permit list includes a Pool Drain Permit by name. Draining a pool is not obviously a permitted activity to most owners, and in a city with a recycled water programme and a stormwater system it clearly is one here. Ask before you open the valve. The related work sits on our pool leak detection page.
Neighbourhoods and Corridors
Where This Applies Across Upland
The supply arrangement is city-wide. What varies by area is the age of the housing stock, which is what the pre-1987 focus of the service line inventory turns on, and access to recycled water, which the city says is predominantly available in the southeastern sector.
Two boundary notes. San Antonio Heights sits outside the city limits immediately to the north, so an address in that area is not necessarily an Upland utility address whatever the postal town says. And the two mutual water companies the city holds shares in serve beyond Upland as well, so being supplied with water that came from a San Antonio Water Company well does not by itself tell you which city you are billed by. The state picture sits on our California plumbing page.
Upland Plumbing Questions, Answered Straight
A water supply held as shareholdings and court decrees, twenty wells across three owners, a utility that will test your pressure, and two published figures that do not agree.
The city, but through an unusual structure. Upland states that its water interests result either from a direct water right or indirectly through its shareholder interest in two private mutual water companies: a 93 per cent shareholder interest in West End Consolidated Water Company and a 68 per cent shareholder interest in San Antonio Water Company. It also owns a 22 per cent interest in the Water Facilities Authority Agua de Lejos imported water treatment plant.
Four streams. In 2025 groundwater fulfilled 80 per cent of customer needs, about 5.5 billion gallons from nine city wells, seven San Antonio Water Company wells and four West End Consolidated wells. Surface water fulfilled 3 per cent, about 224 million gallons through the city San Antonio Canyon Water Treatment Plant. Imported water fulfilled 17 per cent via the State Water Project to Lake Silverwood. Recycled water, 196 million gallons, went to landscape irrigation rather than to taps.
We are not going to state a volume, because the city own page gives two figures that cannot both be right. It says imported water fulfils 17 per cent of needs and also that about 1.1 million gallons were imported in 2025. Our arithmetic on the city figures, labelled as ours: if 5.5 billion gallons is 80 per cent then the total is roughly 6.9 billion and 17 per cent is roughly 1.17 billion. The surface figure of 224 million against 3 per cent is consistent with that total, so the imported volume looks like the outlier.
We do not have a figure and we are not going to estimate one. The Upland 2025 Consumer Confidence Report downloads correctly and its text does not extract, which is a font encoding problem in the file rather than a missing document. If a hardness number matters for sizing a softener or setting a heater, read the report directly or take a test at your own tap, which is a better basis in any case.
It lists it as a service. Upland Public Works states that its water services include addressing city side water leaks, maintenance of city water meters, exercising of service stops and conducting water pressure tests. It adds that customer service fees may apply for some water services and that any fees applied will be charged to the property owner water bill. Requests go through Public Works on (909) 291-2930 or through the city online request system.
Early, whenever the symptom is spread across the whole house rather than at one fitting. A relief valve discharging after a heating cycle, fill valves and connectors failing everywhere, hammering that appeared with no change to the plumbing, or a pressure complaint that only shows at certain times of day are all cases where knowing what arrives at the meter settles the question faster than replacing parts.
If you have a containment device, yes. The city states that State of California regulations require all municipal water systems to implement a cross-connection control program and that it must ensure all containment devices are protected and tested annually, naming irrigation systems and fire protection systems as typical hazards. Since 1 October 2017 the due and past due notices come from a backflow data management firm acting on behalf of the city, and your contractor submits results online.
You do. The city states plainly that you will still need to call your contractor to schedule your annual backflow assembly test. The firm handles the notification and the record keeping; nothing about that arrangement books an appointment. The city also publishes sample notice and past due letters so a genuine notification can be identified.
It means a court settled how much water may be produced from the ground. Upland holds adjudicated groundwater rights in the Chino, Cucamonga and Six Basins, and states that these basins are actively managed and overseen by a designated Watermaster in accordance with their respective court decrees. For a household it means the largest part of the supply is governed by a legal framework rather than by year to year drilling decisions.
The city lists a Pool Drain Permit by name among its permits, so ask before you open the valve rather than afterwards. We are not quoting a fee, because no fee schedule was opened for this page. Given that the city runs a recycled water programme and a stormwater system, where a pool empties to is clearly something it takes an interest in.
Measure First, Then Replace
Plumber Upland Work That Starts at the Meter
The single most useful thing about the way Upland is set up is that the utility will tell you what is arriving. Before anybody replaces a relief valve, a cartridge or a regulator, get a pressure reading and establish whether the problem is coming into the property or being made inside it. Then remember the two annual obligations that are easy to let slide, the backflow test that a private firm reminds you about but does not book, and the permit list that includes draining a pool.
Related work on this site: leak detection covers finding a loss on the private side, water heater repair covers the pressure and expansion question, and burst pipe repair covers the failure that follows sustained high pressure.
Sources for the statement that the city water interests result from a direct water right or indirectly through shareholder interest in two private mutual water companies, the 93 per cent interest in West End Consolidated Water Company, the 68 per cent interest in San Antonio Water Company, the San Antonio Canyon surface supply and its dependence on rain and snowpack, the city San Antonio Water Treatment Plant, the 22 per cent interest in the 81 million gallon Water Facilities Authority Agua de Lejos plant on Benson Avenue north of 17th Street, the adjudicated groundwater rights in the Chino, Cucamonga and Six Basins with their Watermasters and court decrees: the City of Upland Water Division page.
The same page is the source for the Metropolitan Water District and Inland Empire Utilities Agency relationship, and for the 2013 completion of regional recycled water pipeline facilities.
Sources for the 2025 source split, being groundwater at 80 per cent and about 5.5 billion gallons from nine City of Upland wells, seven San Antonio Water Company wells and four West End Consolidated Water Company wells; surface water at 3 per cent and about 224 million gallons through the San Antonio Canyon Water Treatment Plant; imported water at 17 per cent via the State Water Project to Lake Silverwood; and 196 million gallons of recycled water: the City of Upland Water Quality page.
THE SAME PAGE CARRIES BOTH THE 17 PER CENT IMPORTED SHARE AND THE STATEMENT THAT ABOUT 1.1 MILLION GALLONS WERE IMPORTED IN 2025, AND THIS PAGE PRINTS BOTH RATHER THAN CHOOSING. The observation that those two figures are inconsistent with a groundwater figure of 5.5 billion gallons at 80 per cent, and the derived total of roughly 6.9 billion gallons with a 17 per cent share of roughly 1.17 billion, IS OUR ARITHMETIC ON THE CITY OWN PUBLISHED NUMBERS and is identified as ours in the text. No imported volume is stated on this page.
The lead service line inventory conducted between September and October 2024, focusing on homes built before 1987 and other customer groups under EPA regulations requiring a comprehensive inventory of lead service lines, also comes from the city Water Quality page.
Sources for the water services list including addressing city side water leaks, maintenance of city water meters, exercising of service stops and conducting water pressure tests, the customer service fee note and its charging to the property owner water bill, the Public Works contact route, City Council Resolution 6805 setting water rates effective 1 November 2024, and the Proposition 218 public hearing set for Monday 8 June 2026 with proposed adjustments effective 1 July 2026 if adopted: the City of Upland Water Services page.
Sources for the State of California cross-connection control program requirement, the annual testing of all containment devices, the naming of irrigation and fire protection systems as hazards, the partnership dated 1 October 2017 with a backflow data management firm sending due and past due notifications on behalf of the city, the online submission of test results by contractors, the statement that the customer must still call their contractor to schedule the annual test, and the publication of sample notice and past due letters: the City of Upland Backflow Services page. The Pool Drain Permit appears by name on the city Permits and Licenses page.
NO HARDNESS FIGURE IS STATED, because the Upland 2025 Consumer Confidence Report downloads correctly and its text does not extract, which is a font encoding problem in the file. No water, recycled water or sewer rate is quoted, because the rate documents were not opened and a Proposition 218 process was live at the time of writing. No permit fee is quoted, including for the pool drain permit. No customer service fee for a pressure test is quoted. No production right in acre-feet is stated for any of the three adjudicated basins, because the Watermaster documents were not opened.
No lead service line count from the 2024 inventory is stated. No sewer system size, operator or ownership boundary is stated, because the city sewer pages were not reached for this page. The Upland 2025 Water and Recycled Water Master Plan and the Urban Water Management Plans are named because the city names them, and their contents are not summarised here because none of them was opened.
No response time, crew count, office or address of ours is stated for Upland, and no coverage claim is made beyond what our California page already sets out. Rates, programme administration, contact numbers and supply shares change, so confirm current information with the City of Upland Public Works Department before relying on anything above. Where this page performs arithmetic on published figures, it is identified as ours in the text.