It generally doesn't but it will vary depending on the pricing scheme. Where I live we pay a set amount no matter what unless we go over a particular amount in which case we pay a premium.

I generally don't go over the set amount or not by much.

Hey allenwrencth. I've had $9o water bills in the past due to gardening. Not not the yard though, it gets rainfall only. Trying to talk my landlord into letting me put up a rainbarrel.
This year I was fortunate it only went up about $30 due to so much rain in IL. (norm is 30) but, my son's home from college. I don't think there's a cleaner kid around! Dang. He's always in the shower or changing his clothes adding to the wash pile.
Yes, to conserving. I do what I can, for sure.Smile.

It goes up a little, but not that much. Of course, we've had a wet year, and I do collect rain water. At the same time, I like to garden as a hobby. I don't play golf, or fish, or race cars or ride a motorcycle. So for me, a higher water bill is just the cost of having fun.

Wow, where do you folks all live? $30 to $90 water bills sound like a bargain. Around here, in the suburbs of Detroit, it's not unusual to have $200 to $300 a month water bills for an "average" suburban home if you water your average suburban lawn and keep it green. One neighbor down the road had a $340 water bill last summer for July, when we had less than 0.60 inches of rain total for the month. A friend of mine who moved into a new house with the automatic sprinklers all set up and watering every day got a $600 bill -- seems that the realtors had set the thing to pour tons of water onto the lawn so it would be nice and lush and green, and he liked how it looked, so he didn't touch it -- until he got that first bill, that is. Now, he lets it get brown and crispy, doesn't want to pay that much just for water.

But, I'm really lucky, I still have my private well, which is allowed at least for the time being, no forced hookups to the Detroit system. My electrical bill averages probably $80 a month in the winter, goes up to about $120 in the summer, but that is AC, water, and a lot of canning on the electric stove and a lot of food drying in the dehydrator, plus a dehumidifier in the basement, plus all of the extra laundry during hot weather, when you change clothes several times a day just to keep clean and dry. All of which sucks up the power.

Dennis
SE Michigan

Mine is zero, except for the electric to run the well pump and electric bill was $33 this month for whole household. But, I don't have a drip system or water heavily often. Plus my hose leaks so I don't dare have it turned on and ready 24/7. blech.

I live in a rural area and the water bill during the summer used to be around $60. Then the developers discovered our quaint little valley and things have gone down hill since then, (in more ways than one). All of a sudden we are paying increased rates for water to support all the new "city folk" who are moving here in droves. I had quit growing veggies and cut way back on watering the trees, but now with the poor quality in store bought, coupled with the fact that my trees were dying I started growing and watering everything again. I haven't received a bill yet but I'm expecting it to be somewhere around $200 or more. Isn't growth wonderful?

Greg
Nevada

This year I should have collected the rain water and sold it to the town! I wouldn't be paying for water for a couple of years.

In the Detroit area, with sandy soil, and two large (500 sqft growing area each) vegetable gardens, I would pay $70/month in the summer. That was due mainly to drip irrigation for the veggies. And the "very mixed", high-mowed, no watering lawn. And also the "Darwinian" flower beds, where plants had to survive on one or two waterings per summer (the lesser plants long gone).

This year the bill has not gone up much, since we've had good rain all through the summer and not much need to water. Last year, with drought in July and August and young fruit trees to water, it went up quite a bit. As a result I had a submeter installed. Water that gets used in the outside faucets goes through its own meter. The water utility does not charge the sewer charge on this water, and the sewer charge here in suburban Maryland is about equal to the actual cost of the water. Those of you who live in the city might see if your water utility allows installation of a submeter. It was not cheap to put in (about $1000), but with the high costs of watering in drought years, which have been common here in Maryland in the summers, it will pay for itself in a few years. I hope to put in some rain barrels next year, but since they only hold 50 gallons each, they will not really make much of a dent in the cost of water.

denninmi: Wow. Double wow. Your bills are incredibly high. Makes me feel bad for complaining about mine. :)

I pay what appears to be a flat rate of $60 a month. My online account won't let me look back beyond 6 months but it's been consistent. Hehe I thought it was $120 a month but then I remembered we pay every two months. Definitely not as bad as some, but I do live in the PNW, where it rains a lot and we have all that water coming off the mountains to tap into before it reaches the ocean.

I certainly won't complain about utilities after seeing some of the numbers up there. All I can say is rain barrels! Yikes!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

$0.

We're on septic. However, since 2004 we've paid an annual fee of $30. known as a "flush tax."
The proceeds are used to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. We also pay 260$ annually for trash pick.

At least I have the option of disposing of my own trash.

Sudzy wrote:

"denninmi: Wow. Double wow. Your

Spouse says ours increases by about 150% because we have a two tiered billing system. A bit of garden, some borders and and a bit of lawn thrusts into a more expensive user group.

BTW, she is an accountant for the group that sets the rates so she is paying dearly for her good work.

Zero. I only use rainwater.

EG

basically nothing. i use a well and the bill for it is always 21.95 a month, which is the base meter charge. one of these days i will rewire it to the house meter and cancel the 2nd account.

I've got a 4 year old and several times a month we find he's left the guest bathroom faucet on. Last night it was 12 hours. /sigh Tough to teach a 4 year old anything useful. Reading, writing, arithmatic, no problem, but turning off the water, no dice. That'll cost us for sure.
hehe

Seriously, some day soon I hope to do rain barrels. Maybe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

I do not have water out at the property with the garden as we do not live there.

I do have a creek which is good for water as it is free but involves a lot of carrying of buckets.

{{gwi:103749}}
By mikeinparadise at 2008-08-09

Of course last year we had one of those 50 year storms and it overflowed the banks and destroyed one of the gardens. When done about 20% of the garden was left.

{{gwi:103750}}

The

Set amount, winter and summer. $6.00 a month.

No rain here in my part of Texas so I have to water or lose everything. At least we are not on restrictions like it was 5 years ago when you were not allowed to use water for anything outside...no car washing, watering, hosing drives, etc.

We live in a small town..our bill runs about $60/mon but includes, sewer, trash hauling, and water. I fear this month it will be $200 or more because we have been in the high 90's or 100's for days now. I planned to add soaker hoses and more mulch but this summer has not gone well; hubby had to have surgery and was out of work the whole month of June.

We are praying for another hurricane or tropical storm in the Gulf that will actually bring us some moisture.

Peggy

About $10 increase making our total $40/month. Our water utility bill also covers trash pickup. I always wondered why I pay an equivalent amount of units of sewage on my bill when 100% of water used doesn't equal 100% sent back out the sewer line. Just a crafty way to steal from the consumer I suppose.

I do augment my water use with three 55-gallon rain barrels that each hold around 50 gallons. Unfortunately there's only one rain gutter on my house positioned in a place to support using the barrels. The other gutters are places that don't have a spot for a rain barrel. It's unfortunate because the rain comes in brief spurts around my area and I don't always get enough to fill all 3, so sometimes I run out of water and have to resort to the hose.

It doesn't. I don't use supplementary water for the gardens, either flower or vegetable. The only time the veggies get watered in is when I set out the plants or seed for a week or two when it gets dry.

I am on spring water and it is artesianed to the house into a cachement. That means we use a shallow well pump and it only has about a ten foot lift, not to the mention I also have a hand pump in my kitchen. What we do not use of the spring water gushing out goes into the overflow and into the waterways. IOW it flows, whether I use it or not.

mine goes up about $8 I have a rain barrel in which I collect water from my gutter downspout. I piad $55 and I''ve had it for two years. I love it! Best garden investment ever

Mine hasnt gone up at all. I catch rainwater in a 1000 gallon tank. I water my garden which is 25x50, and 110+ fruit trees. The rainwater is amazing. I truly believe its worth any extra work I have to so do to get the water where I need it.

I highly recommend a rain barrel to anyone.

Thanks for all the replies.

As long as you are talking about other utilities, here is my rundown for all my utilities and car insurance in the Ohio Valley.

BTW, I really like the $6 per month water bill person!

We pay about $25 for 2 months of trash pickup.(just went up 18%)

We pay $1800 per year in property tax on our $190,000 house

Our water bill averages about $64 with college kid and $45 per month without kid and covers our sewage as well.

Car insurance is pretty cheap. About $400 to $450 per year for a new car under $20,000 with full coverage and $500D

We use NG to heat. We keep the thermostat set at 64 at night and keep the heat off during the day. House gets down into the low 50's in daytime. I usually turn on the heat around 9 PM and shut it down at 8 or 9 am.

To heat this way cost us $250 a month to heat a modern 2400 sq ft house. (including garage as it has some water pipes in its ceiling).

We've been told our gas bill will go up almost 30% this season. Summer gas bill is the minim about $24 per month.

As the NG runs out prices for all heating methods will only keep climbing. Even the coal will run out someday. Winter '08 they said they had a coal crisis brewing in China.

Some say water will peak too and we had better know how to do the 'rain catchment' thing.

We have a local irrigation district, so we pay $150 per year for all we can use, whether we use the water or not. That has increased from $40 a year when we first moved here, 35 years ago. They turn on our irrigation water around April 1 and off around the middle of October. Our household water only runs $15-$17 per month, which includes an ambulance tax.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden