Water Bill

[damo76]

Thought i'd upload the latest water bill. Seems we use a lot of water but i don't water the garden and lawns everyday.
Ouch, but hard when i can't get a job.
Out of curiosity what's your water bills? does this look pretty steep?
To me it sounds steep for crappy water that's pumped straight out of the bore.

[damo76]

P.s excuse the cat hair on the amp, things leave hair everywhere they sit.

[CoupeKing]

Mines usually about $250 (2 people atm). Maybe a little more over the hotter months. I generally only water my grass if its about to die. Same with my plants, I check the forecast first and if there's no rain in sight I water them. I'm in Melb, we tend to get more rain than most places.

[nuthin' fancy]

The volume for that bill is about the same as for last year.

Too much for water, though. We run at about $200 per quarter.

[Uncle Niceguy]

how do you manage to go through 3773 L in a day? that's simply staggering.

[Raptor]

Man, you seriously use a LOT of water or have a massive leak somewhere.

Your bill: 2175 - 3773 litres per day.

My bill: 400 - 462 litres per day.

That's a family of 3-4 (eldest child away at Uni most of the time) with most of us showering twice a day. We don't water lawns/garden either.

[naddis01]

Our current bill is for 272kL but we have a 1500m block that I water all the time. By the way that bill is just over $150 including the service charge.

[commodorenutt]

There's something very wrong with that usage.

My last 15+ years of bills have never had anywhere near that usage that you have! and we water the garden a fair bit. About the most I've been up to is 500/day, but that was before the water restrictions kicked in in the early 2000s. By comparison, my tenants are a family of 4 adults, who rarely water the garden and they're on around 225/day.

I'd start by watching the meter when all your taps are off. If it's still rolling over, you have a leak somewhere. I've seen a variety of causes - from leaky roof mounted hot water units, which drain into the gutters & thus the storm water, so you never see water pooling anywhere, to broken mains in the front yard that were only spotted when a minor sink hole opened up. Sometimes it's just a faulty meter. A plumber mate of mine showed me one where the first 2 rollers were stuck together, so it showed 10x the true usage.

Or you have nasty neighbours who are stealing a ******** of your water!

[ROOSTA]

Seems excessive.. I can't believe how much they are charging you per kL.. Man i though we were getting ripped!

We have a pool, which needs topping up every few weeks, i water the lawns and the gardens every 2nd day, 3 people in the house that all shower twice a day and our usage varies from 60-120kL per quarter.. Obviously the larger volumes are during the summer months..

Our water bills are pretty consistently between $280 & $350 per quarter..

Electricity is what kills us......

[Brodes]

As above, that's a funk load of water, try what's been suggested & I'm sure Water Corp will be liable for an out of calibration/broken meter. Give them a buzz if you find no leaks, etc.

[damo76]

I thought it sounded steep. I have turned everything off and the meter isn't going around so there's no leak.
Could be a faulty meter, as regards the gardens and lawn, i water plants every second to third day and lawns twice a week.

[MITCHAY]

Is it possible that someone might be stealing water? But given the amount I would think you'd notice

I'd say it is either a mistake with the meter or billing system or you have a leak most likely.

[sleek7]

As others have said your water consumption is staggeringly high....
I have my latest in front of me and from the reading on 1st September 2014 to 7th January 2015 (4 months worth of usage), the Gf and myself have used 22kL. Yes 22kL, I can upload a pic of the bill if you like.
To put this into perspective, what you have used in 2 months is 3 years worth of consumption for the GF and I, and I water the garden, both shower everyday, washing every week, etc.
Either you have a significant leak somewhere or its possible you have a thieving neighbour, it would pay to have a good look at your outside water pipes and around your property.

edit: As you have checked for a leak, double check the numbers on the meter in case the water man has in fact made a mistake.

[tut0r]

I used to live in a house with 3 girls and myself, that's at least 7 showers a day, plus when boyfriends are over.....Our water bills were never past $150 a quarter...

[supershifty]

I dunno how it works in WA, but in QLD last year I "fluked" using using 14kL per 1/4 for 3 consecutive billing cycles with 1 or 2 people living here at random. I know they weren't reading the meter each time as I let the weeds build up slightly around the cover for the water meter - not enough for the cover to be lifted. Then one day I noticed the weeds had been disturbed - next bill was for 8kL of water. They averaged it in my case.

Either way - that's one hell of a lot of water for you to be using under normal conditions.

Cheers!

[sleek7]

Do any of your surrounding neighbours (or yourself for that matter!) happen to have a pool by chance? Your usage for the previous year was the same...

edit: Or maybe everyone in WA are just huge water users?
http://www.watercorporation.com.au/h...-household-use

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by sleek7

Do any of your surrounding neighbours (or yourself for that matter!) happen to have a pool by chance? Your usage for the previous year was the same...

edit: Or maybe everyone in WA are just huge water users?
http://www.watercorporation.com.au/h...-household-use

No my water usage is nothing like that, he has a problem, a 3500 litre/day problem

Damo I see you're in Australind, how big is your property, do you have a pool or dam?

[SSD-85]

Ahhh, I love not being connected to town water....

[buggerlugs]

Originally Posted by KeineLust

Ahhh, I love not being connected to town water....

And not only for the bills. You can't beat the taste of tank water. Nothing like checking the strainer with a couple of dead cane toads at the top. I find it's an "acquired" taste.........

[mik]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

And not only for the bills. You can't beat the taste of tank water. Nothing like checking the strainer with a couple of dead cane toads at the top. I find it's an "acquired" taste.........

I can remember living in kinglake on tank water and finding dead frogs in the track...... Indeed an acquired taste. .

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

And not only for the bills. You can't beat the taste of tank water. Nothing like checking the strainer with a couple of dead cane toads at the top. I find it's an "acquired" taste.........

I was talking to a lady the other day who used to run a safari park in Africa. One day the people started complaining about the taste of the water, then a tuft of fur came through the tap, so they had a look in the tank. A dead Baboon. When they tried to fish it out its limbs kept falling off, I felt like heaving as she was telling me the story.

[11ford11]

take your own readings for a week or two at the same time each day - compare it to reading on bill - and what you know has been turned on ...do neighbors have same amount of use
ring supplier they may be able test your meter ....

[damo76]

My block is 750m2 and i water front lawn and plants and some plants out the back, no pool and neighbours don't have one either.
I'm going to investigate tommorow

[aussiblue]

Also check the meter number matches your water meter; it wouldn't be the first time the Water Corp attached the wrong meter number to an address (been there myself). And check the meter readings yourself; our street found we had a either meter slack meter reader or the Water Corp was saving on staff and had been guessing our readings (and over estimating) at one point. The Water Corp will also check the meter (as I recall you pay a fee but get it back if the find a fault). And you are using three times as much as I do and I have a son at home who showers twice daily and a larger block. I only water once a week and sparingly though.

Note washing machines (especially large US made top loaders) use a lot more water and power than people realise; when I first retired thinking I was being a thoughtful hubby I was doing the washing daily and it had a noticeable adverse impact on both water and power consumption. Waiting until there was a full machine load before washing the clothes made a big difference. One of my retired neighbours fell into the same trap.

[aussiblue]

Also if any neighbours have reticulation check your meter is not spinning while there lawn is being watered.

[MercurySilver]

yeah theres a prob there for sure
ive had a water bill of $700 once, and it was due to a leak

my current bill i got last week and it is $150
which will drop as ive finally got my pump installed and can now use rainwater

[351buzz]

take a meter reading, measure 20 litres out into a drum, take another meter reading. will tell ya if your meter is on the blink.

No-one could use that much a day and not know it, gotta be something wrong.

[devilcv8]

Does a neighbour have a tap they use for filling the pool, watering the garden etc. it wouldn't be the first time someone has tapped into next door' water. All they need is house to be vacant for a while and access to the water pipe. Dig trench, lay pipe, turn your mains off, make connection, mains back on, backfill trench.

[aussiblue]

BTW you should probably arrange with the moderator to delete the details from the pics giving your address, names and Water Account number as it's the sort of information useful for identity theft.

[CoupeKing]

I think he`s living next to Gunga Din and Kevin Costner.