I also have a well

Summer months about 5000--the rest of the time around 3000. And it's expensive. Our water company buys water from another community which 'purifies' water taken from the river, then adds operating costs. That community, in which my father resides, just raised prices by 8%, so we might be in for a hike, too. Thank goodness we have a septic tank, because at our last residence sewer charges were based on water usage.

My sewer charges are based on a modified water usage, the average of three winter months is used as that charge. That seems fair because so much of the summer use ends up in the garden.

Too much! Our irrigation system timer has gone crazy. It ran our whole system back to back overnight, twice! That's 12 hours of 100% watering. The second time we were reported for watering on the wrong day of the week. A patrol car must have seen it going in the early a.m. We only got a warning, but could have been a $700 fine. I've unplugged the control. We set it manually now. It can be repaired next spring, when they open the system.

No idea as we do not have a meter. Our house is grandfathered in for unlimited usage and we only pay a tax. Other newer homes in Chicago or by your own choice can have a water meter installed.

Those around me with the new meters are regreting having it installed. They were told that the bill would be around $100/month but are now at $300/month. That's 3 times my tax bill, including garbage pick up!

OMG, $300 a month, that's outrageous!!! our bill runs about $60-75 a month depending on how many of the kids are here... now that 2 are back at college, water & electric go down!! Yay, but we have those pesky college bills :(.... our sewer bill is also based on our water usage.

I use 3 cubic metres of water. I pay $26.28 with tax for water that comes into my house and $22.92 for waste water that leaves the house

I never really look at our water consumption on our water bill. I do know it's probably about the same as it's been all year because I've only had to water my lawn 2 or 3 times since Spring began. We've had so much rain this year, I haven't needed to water at all since June! My grass is still green and that NEVER happens here. Ever.

We have a well too so no idea; even so we still try to be conservative with our use. We have a township in our area of Michigan where people are getting bills for 600/mo!. It was on the news a month or so ago.

ETA we also have septic so the only thing we pay for is trash pick up. I pay it 6 months at a time for about 20-30/mo and that includes recycling and leaves (40 - 50 bags every fall.)

We live on 2.5 acres and in summer, when we get no rain at all, we use 13,500 a month for $50 and $20 service charge. We use half that in winter during the rainy season, and pay the same service charge. We are also on septic.

Our last two bills were near $200 but we are bundled, water, sewage, trash pickup and curbside recycling. In the cooler months when we don't need to water the garden, that goes down to $125.

And for all those who have significant increases in usage, it never hurts to see if your meter is turning when nothing is supposed to be running. I've been doing that every couple of weeks following a break in the underground irrigation that didn't get caught until I got a $900 water bill one month...

We have a well, so I have no idea.

I echo kudzu's warning. We have rental property in a town with meters. The town is pretty good about notifying the resident if they have abnormal usage. One time I discovered that the supply line to one of the units had come apart at a junction under the building, and water was spraying out like a garden hose. The tenant was out of town so nobody knew it, until I went to cut the grass and found the yard to be squishy. We got it fixed right away, but he had a $700 water bill!! Fortunately, if we prove the repair, the city will adjust the bill. Since none of the water went into the sewer, they knocked it clear back to his normal bill. Of course, we would have paid any overage since it wasn't his fault.

Quarterly bill indicate up to about 90 gallons per day. More when DD is home.

pkramer60 -- I didn't know you could choose to opt out of a water meter in the city. Does that mean you pay nothing, or a set rate? Cheap water on top of low taxes...lucky you!

Kudzu, $900!!!! What a shock!!!

Lucille- Yes, I thought they misread the meter until I checked it myself. The bill, which was for about ten times my normal water usage had a footnote saying: "Your water usage is much higher than normal, so you should check for a leak." When I called them to say that it would have been helpful to know that when the meter was read two weeks earlier, they said: "Well we usually leave a door tag, but we must not have done it this time."

After I got the leak repaired, they adjusted the bill to the wholesale water rate, so I paid "only" $770!

I don't know if it exists (if it doesn't, it will some day), a meter one could install right after the water company meter that would automatically shut down the water if 'x' amount of gallons was used at one time. It could be set and would be variable, because people with grass to water or gardens might use more at one time.

We aren't metered, so I have no idea. Our bill is calculated based on the number of rooms in our house, and the number of toilets in the house.