How much water does your family use per month?

[Quiver0f10]

If you have to pay for city water how much do you pay a month? If you know how many gallons that would be helpful too. Also, how large is your family and where do you live. Thanks!

[eclipse]

We used 18 cubic meters last month (which is, I guess, about 4700 gallons) for a family of 5. I live in Mexico, so the rates will probably just make you want to cry - our bill is 230 pesos, which is about $18. I know my mom in San Diego pays way, way more than I do, and probably uses a lot less.

[Nestof3]

31 hundred cubit feet (23.18 thousand gallons) for the last two months, so 15.5 hundred cubit feet (11.59 thousand gallons) for one month.

 

Water supply cost $98.73 divided by two = $49.37. We also pay storm water at the same time, so this water cost does not include taxes.

 

We've had to water a lot this summer. I think water is pretty cheap. Family of 5.

[Tess in the Burbs]

we used 21 CCF for a 2 month period. But it was 12.4 for 40 days and 8.6 for the other 28 days. Guess we were watering in June and stopped in July b/c we were moving? I can't explain the difference. But that with all the fees was $257.35

 

:confused::001_huh::w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t:

 

I will say our water for a family of 4 has always been high compared to others. We have an older washer and use the dishwasher. And we had a garden. Maybe we shower more. Who knows. But our bill was $159 for a long time every cycle but then it jumped up and stayed high this year.

 

and of course we just moved to an area that has a court case going on about the water rates and I am petrified to see our first quarterly bill!

[Renthead Mommy]

We get billed quarterly. Our spring quarter was $11. We filled our pool this summer with 1800 gallons of water so I expected it to go up much higher, but the summer quarter just came and it was only up to $13 even with the pool filling.

[Nestof3]

Tess, are you counting the sewer and storm drain in that amount?

 

we used 21 CCF for a 2 month period. But it was 12.4 for 40 days and 8.6 for the other 28 days. Guess we were watering in June and stopped in July b/c we were moving? I can't explain the difference. But that with all the fees was $257.35

 

:confused::001_huh::w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t:

 

I will say our water for a family of 4 has always been high compared to others. We have an older washer and use the dishwasher. And we had a garden. Maybe we shower more. Who knows. But our bill was $159 for a long time every cycle but then it jumped up and stayed high this year.

 

and of course we just moved to an area that has a court case going on about the water rates and I am petrified to see our first quarterly bill!

[Lara in Colo]

We have a private watering company (owned by the homeowners in this subdivision). The water here is more expensive than Denver, cheaper than other cities around here. They also aren't as good about acuracy in their "reporting". We are allowed 7000 gallons a month in the summer and 6 in the winter. They say I use the same EVERYmonth.....really???

Anyway the cost only changes if we use over the amount.

So 0-6000 gallons is 65.00 a month for water and sewer. Ive never gone over so I don't know what would happen.

 

Lara

[elise1mds]

We pay about $20/month for 4000-5000 gallons of water. We have a family of four and lots of animals (including horses that get watered in the winter if the pond freezes). We live in the country between a suburb and an urban area. Nothing else is added to the bill; it's for water only.

[Renee in NC]

We use about 1000 gallons per person per month, but I don't know how much that costs (it's included in our rent.)

[Faith]

last month we used 5700 gallons, or so they say. 3 people in our family. We are very careful with how much water we use, that's why I say "or so they say". The water alone is 12.88. Add in the base fee of 7.37, the drain fee of 4.00, the sewer fee of 18.47 and the trash fee of 17.20 and you have too big a bill. I still don't think they are charging us correctly here. Nothing I can do about it though.

[Barb_]

We average about 25,000 gallons a month which seems really high to me even with the number of people living in our household. We have a front loading washer and the younger kids take a shower every 2-3 days and I make them double up. We've sprung 3 leaks in our plumbing since we've lived here, so I'm not entirely convinced there isn't a leak somewhere under our house because we didn't use nearly this much water in PA. One month our usage was 67,000 gallons :svengo: and :banghead: The months leading up to that before the leak exploded were 35k-45k for 5 months running.

 

Water is expensive here, which is to be expected. It's the desert. Our lowest water bill was $113 and our highest water bill was $252!!

 

Barb

[Chelle in MO]

We have a family of 6 with 3 playing a lot of baseball this summer. That means many showers and lots of uniform washings. We do quite a bit of lawn watering as well.

 

From mid-June to mid-July, we used 20500 gallons at a total cost of $74.88.

[Daisy]

We still live in a neighborhood that is unmetered (if you can believe it). We should get meters within the next 5 years. I pay right around $100 a month for water. That is the flat rate. I can't wait to get a meter because I KNOW we use far less water than most of my metered friends and their bill is only $40-$60 a month!

Edited August 20, 2010 by Daisy

[AngieW in Texas]

Central Texas, family of 5

 

Jan/Feb/Mar average water 9240 units (I don't know what the units are), average water portion of bill $43.02

 

Apr/May/Jun average water 8590 units , average water portion of bill $41.69

 

Jul/Aug average water 8050 units, average water portion of bill $39.73

 

Our full bill (for water, sewer, and trash/recycling pickup) ranged from $103.17 to $113.82.

Edited August 20, 2010 by AngieW in Texas

[Krista in LA]

Our last bill was for 10400 gal and the water was $40, sewer $29. That was for 4 of us and did include some watering of the lawn.

[Quiver0f10]

We have a family of 6 with 3 playing a lot of baseball this summer. That means many showers and lots of uniform washings. We do quite a bit of lawn watering as well.

 

From mid-June to mid-July, we used 20500 gallons at a total cost of $74.88.

 

 

Interesting. We must have a high rate per gallon. Our last bill was 20XXX gallons and $174. I do think we have a leak or one of the kids left the hose on or somethig because my new bill is 40XXX gallons and $296! I about fainted when I saw the total.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Quiver0f10

[Barb_]

Interesting. We must have a high rate per gallon. Our last bill was 20XXX gallons and $174. I do think we have a leak or one of the kids left the hose on or somethig because my new bill is 40XXX gallons and $296! I about fainted when I saw the total.

 

I know what you mean. I'm wilting when I see what other people on this thread are paying.

 

Barb

[Tess in the Burbs]

Tess, are you counting the sewer and storm drain in that amount?

 

ok, that was my total bill.

 

but the water part is $ 116.28

[kokotg]

Our bill just shows to the nearest thousand gallons. These days we usually pay for either 3 or 4,000 gallons for 5 people. During the drought a couple of years ago we were very careful and could often keep it to 2000 gallons. We have septic, so no sewer bill--our bill is usually between $15-20

[justamouse]

just moved in before the quarter. And we've had to top off the pool a few times. Family of 7 and I'm expecting a bill between 5-700 dollars. Yes. And, by my asking my friends, that's on the low side of an estimation. I honestly won't be surprised if the bill is 1k (for three months).

 

I'm in Jersey.

 

My girlfriend down the street has 4 kids and a garden. Her bill last summer was 470 something.

[Guest janainaz]

Ours is about $100.00 to $125.00 for water/sewer/trash.

[TrixieB]

We pay for two months at a time.

 

A recent bill was for 10CCF (7480 gallons). We are a family of 4. We water only a few outdoor plants, so our usage is basically cooking/laundry/showers.

 

The city charged a "base service charge" of $24.28. I guess this charge is for the privilege of getting water supplied to the house?

The water cost for 10CCF was $35.00.

The sewer cost for 10CCF was $89.80.

 

So, $149.08 grand total.

[Daisy]

We pay our water monthly and directly to the company. Our sewer and trash is tacked on to our yearly property taxes.

[wendybird]

We average 6,500 gallons per month for a family of 9 plus animals. We are crazy conservative with our water though.

[keptwoman]

I'm ready to faint over the fact that some of you guys use 20,000 gallons a month, holy smokes!!

 

We use 2900 gallons a month (converted from litres) which is 560 gallons per person. It costs us $50.

You do have to bear in mind that we have a serious drought and severe water restrictions including not watering lawns at all, and only watering gardens twice a week at the crack of dawn, and no washing cars at all. But the above is summer usage, in winter it's lower because we don't need to water the gardens at all.

Edited August 21, 2010 by keptwoman

[LuvToRead]

I didn't realize how cheap our water bill is until now. Last month we used 6000 gallons at a cost of $48. This is for water only for our family of 4.

[nmoira]

From our last bill:

 

About 4240 gallons per month

$13.60 water / $58 total bill

 

This is a bit high, as we usually run about 15 CCF per 3 months.

 

=====================================

 

 

17 CCF (12716 gallons) for three months

 

Bill is $175

 

rounded numbers:

 

$41 water

$72 sewer

$37 off-site stormwater

$ 4 Superfund

$22 base charge

----

$175

 

(our downspouts are disconnected, otherwise it would have been another $20 for on-site stormwater)

[Nestof3]

Well, three of us shower every day. I do a load of laundry (high efficiency, though) and dishwasher every day. All of our drinking water comes from the city; we don't buy bottled water or other bottled drinks.

 

We have well water on the front lawn, but for the flower beds and garden, we have to use city water because that's not hooked up to the well. We've had a bad drought here, and I wasn't going to have everything die.

 

I'm ready to faint over the fact that some of you guys use 20,000 gallons a month, holy smokes!!

 

We use 2900 gallons a month (converted from litres) which is 560 gallons per person. It costs us $50.

You do have to bear in mind that we have a serious drought and severe water restrictions including not watering lawns at all, and only watering gardens twice a week at the crack of dawn, and no washing cars at all. But the above is summer usage, in winter it's lower because we don't need to water the gardens at all.

[TN Mama]

Our usage for last month was 2970 and our bill was $16.32. This doesn't include sewer, which was $26. Family of 4.

[Brilliant]

I'm ready to faint over the fact that some of you guys use 20,000 gallons a month, holy smokes!!

 

We use 2900 gallons a month (converted from litres) which is 560 gallons per person. ...

 

And I'm ready to faint over the fact that some of you are only using 2900 gallons/month! I really think our indoor use is conservative,

but we use about 20,000 in the summer months. We have a pool which probably loses a lot to evaporation.

 

It's discouraging to me b/c I'm fanatic about saving water indoors...but it's such a tiny portion of the bill that I wonder if it's worth it to, for example, nag my hubby about running the water while he brushes his teeth. Perhaps I should leave the man in peace with his toothbrush...

[Susan in TX]

We use too much. Average is 10,000 gallons a month for a household of 9 (plus college kids bringing home their laundry on the weekends).

 

Our water bill is over $100 a month but about half of that is sewer charges. We live in Texas.

 

Susan in TX

[southcarolinamom]

We are billed every 3 months and use about 7,500 to 8,000 during that time. This is for a family of 4. I water my flower boxes nearly every day in the summertime, but not the grass. The bill is about $90 every 3 months - most of the $90 bill pays for "sewage treatment" and not the actual water consumption.