Water bill?

[mattlistener]

Hey homeowners -- I'm trying to determine what's a typical quarterly water bill for a two-adult household in our area. If you're willing, could you please comment with your typical monthly bill, and note the following:

-How many adults does that cover?
-Are dishes washed primarily by hand or in a dishwasher?
-Any other factors you think raise or lower your water usage compared to the average for your type of household?

Thanks!

Our house bill is ~$450 per quarter, for 4 adults and a baby, and a dishwasher in each unit. I think my partner and I use a typical amount of water and the folks upstairs think they use a large amount of water, but we're not separately metered so we're not sure how to divide the bill.

Thanks for contributing your information! :-)

Comments

[volta]

My water+sewer bill in Lynn has yet to exceed $40/quarter, and is usually closer to $30/quarter. One adult, with occasional overnight guests. Dishes washed by hand, ~300 gallon hot tub drained and filled about twice a year, two bikes washed in the driveway every few weeks when temperatures are above freezing.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

We have our own well. No water bill, unless you count repairs when the tank fails :)

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

Rather than using price, you may want to look at usage in gallons, especially since then you can use numbers from outside your area as well (like mine, for example). Actually, looking at my most recent bill, it's measured in hundreds of cubic feet (which is converted to gallons, but winds up being very granular, since 1 CCF is 746 gallons). We range from 200-500 cubic feet per month and consider our usage fairly typical. Two adults, occasional overnight guests, dishes washed by hand, no hot tub, no lawn watering. Here in DC, that results in about a $20/month water bill. With a bill that big, either your locality charges way too much for water, your upstairs folks really use a lot of water, or you've got a leak somewhere.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds very high to me. We live in Somerville not far from you, in a house roughly comparable to yours in size, and our last few quarterly water/sewer bills were in the $70-90 range. We have three adults and one toddler, all dishes washed by hand, and a washer/dryer that is shared by all.

[pressburger.livejournal.com]

Yowza. Mine is about $55 a quarter. But I am one person. When I was two it was $65 a quarter.

[mattlistener.livejournal.com]

Thanks pressburger -- and I have another question for you. When you have a minute, could you dig out your last water bill and let me know the *volume* of water you used in a quater? That turns out to be the critical bit of data I'm after. Thanks...

[pressburger.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I can't help you there. I don't have the bill. I just have the amount I paid in Quicken. I will try and remember the next time I get a bill.

However, friends in Highland Park, NJ once got a water bill for about $2,000. Yours may be a less obvious mistake.