How much water do you use?

[ktmarvels]

DH and I just bought a house and are seeing our actual water usage broken down for the first time. There are 3 adults living in our house and last month we used 4000 gallons of water. Now that seems ridiculously high to me, but I really have nothing to compare it to. How much water do you use a month?

[MonkeyMama]

That doesn't sound bad, really.

There are 4 people in my house and we use about 15,000 gallons in summer (a lot for irrigating our small yard) and about 6,000 gallons in winter, monthly.

All our toilets and appliances are water conserving, and since we grew up in drought country, we tend to be extremely conservative with water, by habit. But we do cook and do laundry almost every day, etc. Our biggest water usage is irrigation, obviously. (We don't get much rain, ever. Summer is just worse with the high temps).

[Caoineag]

2 people, 3000 gallons per month or less. All of our appliances are new so the dishwasher is a water and energy sipper but the toilets and the shower head are old school. We don't water our lawn so that's year round for us.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Don't know, as we have unmetered water, the all you can eat buffet of the utilities world.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

Don't know, as we have unmetered water, the all you can eat buffet of the utilities world.

How do you pay for it? Is it included in rent?

I'll give my answer when I get home and check my water bills.

[wincrasher]

My irrigation is usually 15,000 gals a month. The house usually 3500. Sometimes I catch a toilet that's been running all week and giggle the handle. Sigh.

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

How do you pay for it? Is it included in rent?

I'll give my answer when I get home and check my water bills.

My city just charges a flat fee for water.

We volunteered for metered water, since it was an option as they transition (slowly).

Anyway, our metered water is cheaper than the flat rates (since we use far less than the local average). I am sure they just charge a flat rate to Joan. Our water is like $90/month flat rate. (Includes sewer). It's atrocious. They charge by size of house actually, now that I think about it. With metering we shaved $5-$10 per month.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Our unmetered water is $77 per quarter. Bills are slightly individualized according to the size of your property inside and out and what plumbing you have. Funny thing, though, they do not take into account washing machines. I think the rules were written before people had 'em!

[gemologist]

I use about 3000 gallons per month, sheesh I think that sounds high too... 2 adults, little garden, wife and I share showers (dual head shower head)
I don't know if I have a low-flow toilet or not... does anyone know if there are any tax credits for TX on low-flow?

[Caoineag]

Check with your water provider. Mine provides rebates but since I need to eventually replace all my plumbing, its going to wait until I redo the whole bathroom (all 30 sq ft of it, lol).

[kork13]

I've been living with 2 roommates for the last 1.5 years, we're all fairly active 23-y/o's, and use between 3000-4500 gal/mo. So your 4000 sounds pretty reasonable.

(though I will admit, I was also pretty surprised at first to see them report so much water use each month... I had no concept of that before I moved here, so it seemed high to me as well)

[LuxLiving]

We have three adults here - 3000-4000 gal a month - rates are in the $42-55ish range, but that also includes ambulance service to our rural area that we can not opt out of to my disgust. I'd rather pay if I need an ambulance personally.

I dislike how ours are figured, maybe everyone else's is figured the same way? Anything over 3000 gallons, even 3001 gallons gets charged at the 4000 gallon rate! Ppphhfft!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LuxLiving

I dislike how ours are figured, maybe everyone else's is figured the same way? Anything over 3000 gallons, even 3001 gallons gets charged at the 4000 gallon rate! Ppphhfft!

We're the same way - billed in even thousands. I just checked our bills for the first 9 months of this year. We are averaging 6.4 thousand gallons per month. Most months are 6,000 but there were a few that were higher.

[wincrasher]

You'd be surprised how much water some things use.

My sister just replaced her washer with a front loader. A regular washer uses about 150 gals per load - the front loader uses 12. They have probably 3 to 4 loads a week. They also replaced their 2 toilets with low flow models. That's saving 5 gals a flush. 4 people probably flush 5 or 6 times a day each.

A big water hog is a bath tub. Easily 200 gals.

Thier water bill droped from $190 to $130 a month.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

They also replaced their 2 toilets with low flow models. That's saving 5 gals a flush.

The problem with those low flow toilets is you need to flush them 2 or 3 times to get the job done sometimes. I have yet to see one that always does the job on one flush.

[Caoineag]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

The problem with those low flow toilets is you need to flush them 2 or 3 times to get the job done sometimes. I have yet to see one that always does the job on one flush.

Actually, I have seen one that can and its the one I want, but I am not sure how I am going to buy it since they don't just sell it anywhere. Just like with anything, do your research online and you can find a decent product.

[LuxLiving]

Ok, what's the brand name??

[wincrasher]

Uh, Steve, TMI bud.

TMI.

[kenyantykoon]

never really measured the amount i use but i think its quite a lot. but thats the landlord's problem because the water fees are included in the rent