Water Usage and Costs

[MountainDon]

This idea came about from a post on another thread. It got me thinking about my water use, my water bill and wondering how it compares to others.

The city utility charges $2.76 per 1000 gallons of water metered. That sure seems like a good deal when compared to fourx's delivered 3500 gallons for $130 ($37 per 1000). However my January bill that included 3000 gallons totaled $40. Adding the fixed charge for the incoming line of $7, the sewer line at $9 and the waste water sewer and treatment charge (calculated on the average  Dec, Jan, Feb metered water use) at a whopping $14.10 a month, plus the actual water at $8.28 plus taxes the total was $40.60. That computes to $13.53 per 1000 gallons of water used. In the heat of the summer with the fixed fees the same, but the water volume up the cost per 1000 gallons falls to $7.04.  My annual average works out to $9.25 per 1000 gallons.

So the less I use the more I pay per gallon.  :-?

Like most everyone my winter use (Dec, Jan, Feb) should be indicative of actual personal use. We don't irrigate any plants much during those months and the car and Jeep pretty much get along without being washed at home. Those months ran an average of 3500 gallons a month, for the two of us, or 58 gal per day per person. Looking at last summers use the three max use months averaged 6500 gal a month (Irrigation, car washing, etc) or 108 gal per person per day. Yearly average works out to 81 gal per person per day. Right there at the low end of the national average. No too bad I guess, but I could do better with a dual flush toilet or a new water miser front load washing machine.  :-/

A lot of water could be saved with an on-demand hot water recirculation system as well... that's where a small pump circulates water from the hot water tank to the furthest fixture before you open the hot tap. In the SW and West where water heaters are more often in the garage area (no basements) that can save a lot of water from being run down the drain while waiting for heated water to arrive at the point of use.

A quick search turned up the figure that the average American household uses somewhere between 80 to 100 gallons a day per person. That's a total of all indoor and outdoor uses, as far as I can tell.

[glenn-k]

....really like the ol' numbers, don't you, Don.

[benevolance]

It takes a lot of water to run a house even if we are water conscious....I have no problem with using the water...As long as we recycle 90% or more of it and allow it to re-enter the water table....

Where as most population centres are on the ocean and most of it gets dumped out to sea....Depleting our water tables and polluting the oceans

If we have trillions of dollars to fight for democracy in Iraq surely we can recycle all of the water we use???

[fourx]

That seems rather like treating the symptom and forgetting the disease. Limiting population growth, restricting or halting immigration, particularly of the unskilled, and eliminating all race-specific funding and assistance to those on welfare to have more and more babies to hang on the taxpayers tit would be a smart move, I think.
Reality wins over in the end- just as Capitalism  and the free market has continued while Communism has all but disappeared, so an increasingly crime-ridden and parascitic underclass will see the return of Eugenics, free of the taint of that Austrian house-painter with the small moustache.
Control the population growth and the water shortage will be controlled as well.

[MountainDon]

 :-?  You noticed.    

[optionguru]

I'm at $12.66 per 1000 gallons.  That includes water and sewer.  Completely based on usage with no fixed costs.