Water Usage.... CHIME IN!!!!!!!

[cassidy22]

Here are the base charges for water:
Usage cost on first 6000 = 0.002200 /gal
Usage cost up to 24000 = 0.002750 / gal
Usage cost over 24000 = 0.003030 / gal
Base Fee: 26.33
This was increased about a year ago by about 40%.

My water bill gets close to $200 in the summer. Slows down to about $100 in the winter.

About 43000 gallons last month. We just installed irrigation to a holding pond, so we will stop irrigating our orchard, and garden with municipal water. That should cut us back greatly!

We live on 6 acres.
We have 18 year round adult ewes, and another 25 lambs that we keep for 6 months
We have 300+ chickens, and around 50 turkeys and 15 ducks.
We have 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 adults and a toddler.

ON a hot summer day, our 200 egg layers easily go through 3 7 -gallon waterers. Our sheep have access to an automatic waterer, so no idea how much they drink, but happy that they always have water. Dogs are also on auto-waterers, one inside and one outside. I'm not looking forward to winter and dealing with heated water bases and toting waters from the pumps to the coops.


And occasionally pipes get left on that leak, or sprinklers get forgotten about and run all day. Pond irrigation should fix most of that. We had a leaky main line that we found because our yard flooded, but not after a $400 water bill had already been run up.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

We just put our city water in. The house and one spigot in the polebarn have city water. The outside spigots are still on the well, which is used for animals and the garden. Our well water is/was absolutely terrible before so we had a water softener. I paid $65 dollars a month to the water softener company. Plus used four bags of the more expensive salt for the water softener a month (equaled another $28.00/month for that).

In May everthing was complete for the city water, so I've only had two bills. We pay quarterly. Our township is ridiculous and charges a $75.00 fee every quarter -- I've heard various reasons from various township officials so I have no clue what the real reason behind the charge is. When they decided to put city water through the township there was absolutely no talk of this fee when all the numbers went out. It was added as soon as the first water bills went out.

The past bill, which covered a full quarter during the summer months was $40 for the actual city water usage and the very small fee that the water district charges. Plus, of course, the township's ridiculous charge. I can't remember the exact usage, but I know it was only a few thousand gallons -- like maybe 3,000 or so. There are four of us -- and lots of laundry with two younger ones!

 

[Stacykins]

So glad to be on well water in a water rich region. Our water table is very high, so high that unless you have a good sump pump, your basement becomes an indoor swimming pool!

 

[scooby]

this has been going on this past year, the previous meter wasn't bad. and the fact that most of the town is complaining of high water usage now tells me somethings wrong with their system, cause i know that not every one in town had bad meters. my neighbor with a family of 4 and 2 dogs got charged for 39,000 gallons and his lot is dirt with a 20x10 grass patch the elderly couple across the street got charge for 20,000 one month and the people down the street,there family of 3 was charge 60,000 gallons, these are 1/2 acre lots, so not all that much to water beside half our lot is dirt. we've looked for leaks and there is non. and we have the water conserving shower heads, toilets and dishwasher. and on top of that my friend at the other end of town has 3 little kids that she's obsessed with keeping clean so they take baths like 3 times a day and her usage is about 8,000 gallons a month and thats with a increase after getting the new meter installed. I just really think somethings wrong here. and the lawn and water town guy that reads our meters just started this job 2 yrs ago and he has no experience with any of this but our town council just believes him blindly.

 

[redhen]

My last water bill was $140 something... (but we get billed every three months)
Its been over $200 before though...

 

[StevenW.]

We have a well. We live over a underground spring.

If we had to pay for water, I don't think I would have ducks anymore.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Quote:
Is your meter moving at all when you are not using any water? If so, that usually means there is a leak somewhere/toilet running, etc. Even if it's just jiggling, it should not be when absolutely no water is being used in the house. It sounds like an outrageous amount! It would have to be a pretty big leak. Something is not right. Can't you track your own meter? We have a meter outside for the meter reader and on the inside for us to see -- they both read the same number. They are wired together. It seems like you should be able to contact someone at the county or state level, if your concerns are falling on deaf ears at the city/township level.

 

[Fierlin1182]

We pay per quarter, and use around 130-160 L in that time (three months)
Apparently our usage is less than that of a one-person household with no garden... but I suppose saving water saves us money, so it's all good

 

[mkcolls]

Prior to Feb. we were paying $24-$28/month for water/sewer/trash pick-up.

We moved, same state 100 miles away, the first bill was $75/month; water only, we have septic & have to pay per bag for trash, that we have to drive and dump ourselves and recycle, same location.

We requested a check of the water line and meter and the meter was accurate, and no leaks. We also found out that there is a base charge of $42.50/month before we use any water. That is the "outside the village" charge. Inside the village pays $29.80 base charge.

This summer the highest bill was $200 after watering the garden for 3 days. There has not been a bill that really made sense while we have been here.

If all of that isn't insane enough we were warned by everyone in the area not to drink or cook with the water, so we purchase water for drinking and cooking.

Something is fishy here and no one wants to rock the boat. They all just buy their drinking water, and pay their ridiculously high bills. We feel like we are

Sorry to hear that so many others are in a similar situation.

 

[JD4570]

I live on 10 acres and we have two wells. One is electric and the other is a windmill that is over a spring. It's cool live in the country!

But then I wished all of you could too.