# Monthly water bill??



## Sidney

What your average water bill? If I leave my sprinkler system to water everyday 5 days a week (M-F), my bill is usually around $190 - $200. I have sandy soil, so watering 2 days a week like most of you do, doesn't cut it for my lawn. I haven't had it on for the last 10 days (rained 8 of the last 10 days) but I am trying to go M-W-F after all of this rain and see how it affects my lawn and bill. I roughly figured that watering 5 days a week for 4 weeks (20 days) costs me about $7.50 a day.


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## j4c11

Piece of cake. My bill normally comes in at $350, maybe $400 on a bad month.


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## pennstater2005

I don't have irrigation so around $70. Our issue is they tie our sewage bill to our water which is a huge reason why I have not done a renovation, especially on the front yard as it needs it bad. Last year I attempted an overseed and spent about $200 on water and had a sewage bill to match. No fighting that either.

I do plan on drilling my own well although it may not be enough to water the lawn with. You can use these with pressure tanks and electric pumps. I'll be getting the kit here:

https://emergencywaterwell.com


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## dfw_pilot

Mine is ~ $100/mo. Thankfully, our sewer fees are based on the water bills between November 1st[/sup] & Feb 29[sup]th. I don't water between those dates, so the sewer fees are low.

It's kinda bad luck to have high water prices combined with hot weather and sandy soils.


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## chrismar

Free(ish). The cost of running the pump to get it from the well, but that's about it.


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## high leverage

I feel blessed. lol. I've paid $35 a month since I bought the home 2 yrs ago. It has never fluctuated. I'm beginning to think my meter might be malfunctioning. That includes sewer and refuse.


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## J_nick

chrismar said:


> Free(ish). The cost of running the pump to get it from the well, but that's about it.


+1 I'm also on a well and even when doing my renovation this June I didn't notice the electricity bill go up that much. It was less than I expected it to be


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## GrassDaddy

mine is done quarterly so we shall see lol


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## wardconnor

chrismar said:


> Free(ish). The cost of running the pump to get it from the well, but that's about it.


I have a well. Probably goes up like $50 on heaviest months.


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## Jericho574

Mine is roughly $175-$200 during the growing season, watering heavy twice a week. It wouldn't be more than $75 or so but the sewer formula uses total gallons so I'm paying sewer prices on irrigation water.


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## Tex86

$60.00-$100.00. The ladder being a bad month. I water about .46 inches every 3 days since the weather is around 100 degrees daily.


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## Gboyet93

$300 to $400 in Madison. Water and sewage are tied together.


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## Redtenchu

Mine is together with sewage and trash/recycling pick up. Runs around 85 most months, but when I do run the sprinklers (like now) it'll reach 100-110.


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## csbutler

Luckily up till now we've had a decent amount of rain in Harvest. We have a flat rate for sewage. I'm expecting $100-$150 for the month of July but I'm not always the best at watering. That price is likely to go up when I get an irrigation system next year.


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## Jersey Devil

chrismar said:


> Free(ish). The cost of running the pump to get it from the well, but that's about it.


+1 
My irrigation is off my well, but the rest of my house is city water.


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## Jericho574

I just amortize the water bill throughout the year. During winter and fall when the bill is basically nothing, I'll pay $80/m so when summer rolls around, I have a fairly large credit balance


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## cnet24

Around $250/month.

7000k sq. ft, each zone 30mins/ twice a week.


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## Topcat

Last year I watered two zones on Mon-Wed-Fri (front), and the other two Tue-Thurs (back) and my bill ran from $110.00- $130.00 per month. This year I installed the Rachio and I am right at $85 - $95 per month with the Rachio watering based on weather conditions.


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## ajmikola

Gboyet93 said:


> $300 to $400 in Madison. Water and sewage are tied together.


Heeeeeey, where in madison do you live? I'm on the Limestone side of county line!


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## Mightyquinn

My water bill is usually around $125-150 during the growing season but drops of by about $50-75 during the offseason. My water is billed with sewer and they charge you for how much water you use whether it's irrigation or not, so shortly after I moved in I got an "irrigation meter" which doesn't charge the sewer fee so it paid for itself in a year or two in my estimate.


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## Iriasj2009

Mightyquinn said:


> My water bill is usually around $125-150 during the growing season but drops of by about $50-75 during the offseason. My water is billed with sewer and they charge you for how much water you use whether it's irrigation or not, so shortly after I moved in I got an "irrigation meter" which doesn't charge the sewer fee so it paid for itself in a year or two in my estimate.


Estimate on how much the second water meter was? In my town it seems like a complicated thing to do. Ive asked and they just look at me like I'm stupid lol. I couldn't get an estimate on how much it'd be for mine. This was 3 years ago, I'm gonna try to find out what I need to do to get one installed.


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## Ware

Iriasj2009 said:


> Estimate on how much the second water meter was? In my town it seems like a complicated thing to do. Ive asked and they just look at me like I'm stupid lol. I couldn't get an estimate on how much it'd be for mine. This was 3 years ago, I'm gonna try to find out what I need to do to get one installed.


As I recall, my second meter and mainline tap was about $750. There are some variables (like meter size) that can influence the cost (e.g. I think a 1" meter would have been more like $1,000).

I estimated my irrigation water consumption and calculated the avoided sewer fees on that volume. I think I came up with a simple payback of about 2-3 years.

Having winter averaging or other rate mechanisms that are favorable to irrigation customers is the best answer, but when that's not an option a second meter is definitely worth considering. It's also nice to not have to worry about any pressure loss in the house when the irrigation system is running.


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## Mightyquinn

I think the meter was something like $700-800 plus I had to pay a plumber to put it in. It came out to about $1000 installed. This was 10 years ago though so the prices may have gone up some.


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## dfw_pilot

Iriasj2009 said:


> Estimate on how much the second water meter was?


Our community uses winter averaging, so a second meter isn't needed. Make sure your community doesn't use it before looking at a second meter. However, I was quoted ~ $2.3K for a second meter (I can't remember if that was 3/4 or 1 inch).


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## Iriasj2009

Wow ok i will do my research then. Thanks guys!


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## Bluegrass64

One time it was 641.00 due to an underground leak a a valve but normal heavy hitter months are July, October, and January 300-400$


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## g-man

My winter usage is 8CCF. In the summer I peak to 18CCF. So I use 10CCF to irrigate 5678sqft and the 10ccf cost me ~$50. My sewer is a flat fee by a separate company.


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## pennstater2005

I'm dreading my water and sewage bill after a month of daily watering 2-3x.


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## BXMurphy

Mightyquinn said:


> shortly after I moved in I got an "irrigation meter" which doesn't charge the sewer fee so it paid for itself in a year or two in my estimate.


That's the way to go. Do you remember what you paid for meter and plumber all-in? I'm guessing $1,000 bucks, max. A couple hundred for the meter, maybe $500 for the plumber...


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## Mightyquinn

BXMurphy said:


> Mightyquinn said:
> 
> 
> 
> shortly after I moved in I got an "irrigation meter" which doesn't charge the sewer fee so it paid for itself in a year or two in my estimate.
> 
> 
> 
> That's the way to go. Do you remember what you paid for meter and plumber all-in? I'm guessing $1,000 bucks, max. A couple hundred for the meter, maybe $500 for the plumber...
Click to expand...

Yep, you are correct! It was right around $1000 installed. The meter was around $700 and to get a plumber to install it all was around $300. That was over 10 years ago, I think the price of the meter has gone up but it would still be worth it to get it done in my area. The other advantage is that the meter is 1" and your normal household meter is only 1/2", so you will get a lot more "flow" for your irrigation system.


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## rockinmylawn

Mightyquinn said:


> BXMurphy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mightyquinn said:
> 
> 
> 
> shortly after I moved in I got an "irrigation meter" which doesn't charge the sewer fee so it paid for itself in a year or two in my estimate.
> 
> 
> 
> That's the way to go. Do you remember what you paid for meter and plumber all-in? I'm guessing $1,000 bucks, max. A couple hundred for the meter, maybe $500 for the plumber...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, you are correct! It was right around $1000 installed. The meter was around $700 and to get a plumber to install it all was around $300. That was over 10 years ago, I think the price of the meter has gone up but it would still be worth it to get it done in my area. The other advantage is that the meter is 1" and your normal household meter is only 1/2", so you will get a lot more "flow" for your irrigation system.
Click to expand...

Best irrigation investment we ever made when this was made available for our house during its build.
$1000 meter + installed all in.
in 5 years since -worse bill for water was ~$220 which usually covers ~1.5 months.


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## FuzzeWuzze

My highest bill is $250 in August typically. Usually when not irrigating its probably 125-150. Thankfully we have a lot of overcast and rainy days in Oregon so "heavy" watering at 1.5" per week is only July/August.


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## ken-n-nancy

Wow, until reading through this thread, I never realized irrigation water was so expensive! So thankful that we have a well at our house! I think I'd be too cheap to spend much $ on watering the lawn!


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## JDgreen18

So I got my first water bill after installing my irrigation system. My normal water bill is about $140 or so every 3 months, this one was $400. Not so bad, I used a lot of water with multple renos going on at the same time this fall. One being the 11k kbg reno that I started first week in August. Watering that 4 times a day for a month. Anyway I was Ok with the bill.


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## ctrav

My water bill for the year averages out to 130-140 per month. I had 3 bad months in a row last year where I spent $1500 in 3 months (pool install, busted line, broken RPZ valve). I also have a 24 year old that comes home from work and thinks he's a fish (long showers) and then there is my lovely wife that seems to think half loads of laundry are best :roll:


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## outdoorsmen

280 last month


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## Brackin4au

pennstater2005 said:


> I don't have irrigation so around $70. Our issue is they tie our sewage bill to our water which is a huge reason why I have not done a renovation, especially on the front yard as it needs it bad. Last year I attempted an overseed and spent about $200 on water and had a sewage bill to match. No fighting that either.
> 
> I do plan on drilling my own well although it may not be enough to water the lawn with. You can use these with pressure tanks and electric pumps. I'll be getting the kit here:
> 
> https://emergencywaterwell.com


Reviving an old thread... did you ever drill your well with this kit? Did it work for your lawn irrigation?


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## pennstater2005

Brackin4au said:


> pennstater2005 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have irrigation so around $70. Our issue is they tie our sewage bill to our water which is a huge reason why I have not done a renovation, especially on the front yard as it needs it bad. Last year I attempted an overseed and spent about $200 on water and had a sewage bill to match. No fighting that either.
> 
> I do plan on drilling my own well although it may not be enough to water the lawn with. You can use these with pressure tanks and electric pumps. I'll be getting the kit here:
> 
> https://emergencywaterwell.com
> 
> 
> 
> Reviving an old thread... did you ever drill your well with this kit? Did it work for your lawn irrigation?
Click to expand...

No, but it's on my mind. I just got a $150 sewage bill when it averages $60. The person in charge of allowing deduct meters, and he doesn't, is retiring soon and so hopefully the new person will be more lenient.


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## greengrass

high leverage said:


> I feel blessed. lol. I've paid $35 a month since I bought the home 2 yrs ago. It has never fluctuated. I'm beginning to think my meter might be malfunctioning. That includes sewer and refuse.


Same here, can't imagine paying 300-400 a month. Granted I only drag out the sprinklers when gets really hot with no rain. My shaded property probably helps too.


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## BXMurphy

The conventional "1 inch per week" rule has been on my mind lately. I want the top inch to be dry with the soil below uniformly damp. Not even moist but like a well wrung-out towel.

Of course, it depends on the environment, but do you think that many of us can get by with less watering? I bet I can up in New England...

In any case, the idea of a well is attractive to me to cut down on water getting into my basement. I can probably hit water going down just 20 feet or so.

I looked at that kit. It looks like a lot of work!

Murph


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## ThomasPI

This thread reminds me of why we are drilling a well for our irrigation. I called well digger this morning. House is literally on a small private island and well are shallow and average 25 to 30' deep. Quoted me $1,800 with 1.5 hp pump etc. Island residents without a well pay $300 plus per month with irrigation. Worth every cent.


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## BXMurphy

Gee, two grand. Not bad!

Free water and maybe a lower water table...

B


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## pennstater2005

I'm hoping at some point to contact a well drilled for an estimate. I'm in a borough it haven't found an ordinance yet banning it. Might have to plant a few trees and find someone to do it at night


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## Green

BXMurphy said:


> The conventional "1 inch per week" rule has been on my mind lately. I want the top inch to be dry with the soil below uniformly damp. Not even moist but like a well wrung-out towel.
> 
> Of course, it depends on the environment, but do you think that many of us can get by with less watering? I bet I can up in New England...


Zoysia grass in New England would get you that. It's only green about 5 months of the year, and lower water use when it is than a cool-season grass. Lol.


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## lawn789

Wow I feel lucky. I had a new meter installed for the irrigation system which was $900. But my water bill is only $19/month. Only paying for the water used. Watering 20 minutes per zone @ 5 zones. Three days a week.


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## Jimefam

Just got the latest bill and it was $340 amd they do tie in the sewage as well. At my old house i had a meter put in just for the irrigation and pool and although it cost me almost $2500 to get the city to do it it was worth it. Thought here i wouldn't need it with the smaller yard and no pool but i might start looking into it. Just added 2k more sod with another zone this month and 75 trees with drip irrigation so i expect July to be $450ish. Gotta figure something out lol.


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## FuzzeWuzze

250 during peak summer, with no irrigation the other 7-8 months of the year because of all the rain and cloudy days its usually 100-150 depending. But thats also including sewer.
A large portion of my bill is just the base rate for water and sewer + fee's/taxes which is like 60-70 bucks before i've taken a drop of water or flushed a single toilet.


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## JDM83

$21.43 this month for the irrigation meter. mine has its own meter for the irrigation system. this is the highest bill ive had to date. (owned the house for 1 year)


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## pennstater2005

JDM83 said:


> $21.43 this month for the irrigation meter. mine has its own meter for the irrigation system. this is the highest bill ive had to date. (owned the house for 1 year)


Just rubbing it in aren't ya :lol:


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## FuzzeWuzze

ThomasPI said:


> This thread reminds me of why we are drilling a well for our irrigation. I called well digger this morning. House is literally on a small private island and well are shallow and average 25 to 30' deep. Quoted me $1,800 with 1.5 hp pump etc. Island residents without a well pay $300 plus per month with irrigation. Worth every cent.


Yea that is not the norm for sure. For example a buddy just drilled a well in wine country out here, and most wells cost 20-25k each to drill. If they cant get water or enough pressure out of the hole guess what? You get to pay another 20-25k for them to try again. But wells are necessary, because there is no city plumbing out there.


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## knomore

We are kinda lucky here in this area the water table is fairly close to our soil surface and we have this crazy layer of sand about 4ft under the soil. So we elected to drive a point well and use that... basically whatever the cost to run the pump motor is all we have to pay for the water we irrigate with. Of course you can't drink any of that because eww... but it's great for the lawn!


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