Sewer Services in Melbourne, Florida

The City of Melbourne Water Reclamation Division collects and treats wastewater for more than 29,000 Melbourne households and businesses across about 45 square miles, mostly inside the city limits (City of Melbourne, Water Reclamation).

That footprint is narrower than the Melbourne water system, which the city describes as reaching the beachside towns and unincorporated Brevard County south of the Pineda Causeway (City of Melbourne, Water Treatment and Distribution). The Rate Table still lists residential sewer rates for Brevard County, Cocoa Beach, Palm Bay and West Melbourne service areas alongside the In Melbourne and Outside rows (City of Melbourne, Rate Table).

Questions about sewer service go to the Water Reclamation Division at (321) 608-5800 (City of Melbourne).

Melbourne wastewater goes to one of two regional city plants, one serving the north of the city and the Grant Street Water Reclamation Facility serving the south (City of Melbourne, Water Reclamation).

Both Melbourne plants are designed for at least secondary treatment. Treated effluent leaves by two routes, deep well injection and the reclaimed water distribution system, and the solids left over are stabilized biologically and then with lime (City of Melbourne). The reclaimed side, including who can connect and what it costs, is covered in the Melbourne reclaimed water guide.

The two Melbourne collection systems work differently. On the David B. Lee side, sewage runs by gravity from buildings to lift stations, and the lift stations pump it through force mains to the plant. On the Grant Street side, large gravity mains carry flow to one master lift station at the plant (City of Melbourne). That helps explain why the city wipes warning names lift stations: on the David B. Lee side, most wastewater flows to one (City of Melbourne).

A residential Melbourne sewer customer inside the city pays a $16.68 monthly base rate plus $9.65 per 1,000 gallons, with a $90 deposit, a $4,165 impact fee and a $100 connect fee for a new connection (City of Melbourne, Rate Table).

The impact fee of $4,165 and the $100 connect fee apply to the In Melbourne and Outside rows; the other rows list none. Non-residential Melbourne sewer rates and impact fees are set in City Code Chapter 58 rather than on the table (City of Melbourne). Because the page carries no effective date, a bill that differs from these numbers may reflect a newer adopted rate.

Sewer is billed on metered water, so a pool fill or a fixed leak can inflate the Melbourne sewer charge for water that never reached the sewer. City Code Section 58-243 (d) allows an adjustment when usage tops the previous six month average by 100 percent; the written request is due within 60 days of the bill, and only one adjustment is allowed in 12 months. Broken or leaky lines where the water enters the sanitary sewer, such as leaky toilets, and water used for irrigation do not qualify (City of Melbourne, Sewer Credit). A Melbourne Request for Sewer Credit Application has to come with a copy of a repair bill, a pool contract, or a statement explaining when and how the repair was made (City of Melbourne, Sewer Credit).

The City of Melbourne asks that only human waste and toilet paper be flushed, because wipes and similar items snag in sewer lift stations and at the entry point of the treatment plants (City of Melbourne, pipe protection page).

The Melbourne list of items that belong in the trash includes so-called flushable wipes, cleaning cloths and mop pads, bandages, sanitary products, diapers, hair, medications, kitty litter, dental floss, cotton swabs and makeup pads. Kitchen grease is the other big problem: fats, oils and grease poured down a drain harden inside the pipes, restrict flow and can push untreated wastewater back into homes or out of manholes into parks, yards, streets and storm drains (City of Melbourne).

The city practical advice for Melbourne kitchens: pour used cooking oil into a sealable container and put it in the trash, scrape plates into the trash, wipe greasy pans with a paper towel, and skip the garbage disposal, since grinding food does not remove the grease and only makes the pieces smaller (City of Melbourne).

Businesses carry a further rule. Everyone connected to the City of Melbourne Sanitary Sewer System must meet the Prohibited Discharge Standards and Local Limits in a city ordinance, and some businesses need a Significant Industrial User Permit or a Minor Industrial User Permit. A Melbourne business can ask for the Industrial Pretreatment Program wastewater survey at [email protected] to learn whether it needs one (City of Melbourne, Industrial Pretreatment).

A Melbourne sewer backup goes to the city at 321-608-5130 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, or 321-255-4622 after hours (City of Melbourne, Report a Water Line Break).

Above the city sits the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. A utility such as Melbourne must report spills greater than 1,000 gallons, or any that may threaten the environment or public health, to the State Watch Office at 1-800-320-0519 within 24 hours of discovery, and file a written report within 5 days. Spills of 1,000 gallons or less go to the DEP district office or delegated local program (FDEP, Wastewater Incident Reporting).

Residents and visitors are encouraged to call the same State Watch Office number about any suspected wastewater incident, which gives a Melbourne resident a state number to call about an overflowing manhole when the city line is closed. DEP also says that in most cases spills can be contained and much of the volume recovered, and that less than 20 percent of spills make their way to surface water (FDEP).

Two state Indian River Lagoon grant lists name three City of Melbourne wastewater projects, two of them at the Grant Street Water Reclamation Facility (FDEP Indian River Lagoon grants, FY 2023-24; FY 2024-25 awards).

The list titled Fiscal Year 2023-24 Awards shows the Grant Street improvement at $10,000,000 and the biosolids nutrient project at $5,000,000 in a column headed State Funding Requested (FY 2023-24 list); the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Awards list, in a column headed Award, adds $8,600,000 for Grant Street water quality work and, separately, $691,909 for the Riverview Park Baffle Box Project, which is not a sewer plant project and is left out of the table (FY 2024-25 list). The lists show amounts only. Neither gives a construction schedule, and no completion date for the Grant Street work was found on the city Water Reclamation page on October 18, 2026, so the timing is best confirmed with the division at (321) 608-5800.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the City of Melbourne Water Reclamation and billing pages, the FDEP incident reporting rules and two state lagoon grant lists.