OT: sewer costs

Water bill x2

Bettter than $25,000 in fees they wanted from my Uncle to change from septic to sewer, in the northwest burbs of Chicago.

The charge does not seem out of line.

Mark

No it doesn't.... Depending upon usage (tied to water consumption) my sewer bill runs $61-$70 per month...

My bill it tied to water usage as well. My sewer is about $15 a month based on the city minimum for water usage which is about $25.

I am a single man living smaller house with no water usage other than shower, hand washing dishes and toilet operation.

So if yours is based on water usage and you have more than yourself in the household and run dishwashers, take long showers, water the lawn, keep a garden, obsessively wash clothes, etc.... I can see it.

Robert

Waste water treatment fee, based on your water usage. Almost all water usa ge during the winter goes into the sewer system. Some of the water used in the summer (gardening, etc) does not go into the sewer system, so the sewe r fee is adjusted, during the summer, for that (gardening, etc) allowance.

As stated, in general, it's about double (mine's a bit more) than your wate r usage fee.

Sonny

My average is $17. per month. It's based on water use, established during winter months. But the summer water use is designed to encourage rationing. For example, if I use twice the amount of winter usage in the summer my price per CCF can get pretty steep. And the more I use the steeper it gets. %$#&*^%$#@

Max

It may or may not be. It's heavily dependent on your location.

Lose the dishwasher. It's evil.

Why would anybody want to use 50 gallons of water to wash their dishes??

When I lived with my Dad, every evening we would get up from the supper table and do the dishes. We would take turns on who would wash and who would dry. And a couple nights a week we would travel to the drug store in town with a counter and pester the waitress.

Fond memories...

Our Samsung uses 4.76 gallons per load, one load every other day.

My Kenmore uses a variable amount of water, depending on the cycle and load. From a minimum of about 2.5 gallons to almost five.

My sink holds 4.5 gallons, so it's about a push between the dishwasher and doing things by hand.

The dish washer is like any other tools, if used properly it can be as economical as washing dishes in the sink. The trick is to only run it when it is full, not after every meal.

In a MUD district close to Houston, $34 for sewer, $20 for water up to

In Houston you also get to pay for the portion of your property that will not absorb rain water run off every month whether it rains or not.

Actually it takes less water to wash dishes with the dishwasher than to hand wash if you have a relative modern, in the last 25 years, dish washer.

You realize the whole tub does not fill with water, only 2~3" deep per wash cycle.

When I lived in Texas (Marshall) ours was based on the January water usage to negate summer usage in pools, irrigation and car washing. I thought that was fair.

Thanks for all the responses. Our $46 is a flat rate, not based on water usage. I wish it was. Maybe I'll have to go bug the county commissioners. Doubt that'll get me very far :-).

OTOH, our water bill is $14 a month up to some limit which few seem to reach. And they only read the meter once a year to bill for any overage.

To say nothing of two P/U trucks, two cars, and a travel trailer.

Really? Think much? :-)

usage. I wish it was. Maybe I'll have to go bug the county commissioners. D oubt that'll get me very far :-). OTOH, our water bill is $14 a month up to some limit which few seem to reach. And they only read the meter once a ye ar to bill for any overage.

Maybe your extra sewer money is to pay for a new or updated treatment facil ity. That flat rate may stay the same for a decate or more, while others' rate/gal will go up every few years.

Some municipalities around here have increased rates no matter when (winter /summer) water is used and many are complaining. To avoid higher rates for usage/sewer, many folks have purchased or made rain barrels, to avoid payi ng more. Though my town has not done that, I plan to build a cistern this summer.

Sonny

Suburb of Atlanta, GA. Sewer rates are roughly twice the cost of water.

Note that there is no allowance for irrigation of lawn or garden - sewer cost is based on water used, which is only reported to the nearest 1000 gallons.

If there was space in the yard and I had the $$, there'd be a 15,000 or 20,000 gallon tank for collecting rainwater. I already do that, but on a small scale - about 350 gallons of storage.

Markem wrote: