Topic 'How much water does your family use in a month?' in forum 'Home Improvement' - dslreports.com

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 09:07:44 EDT

Jeffrey posted : Two adults, 1 child and during the winter months, we use about 5,000 gallons per month. In the summer with the lawn watering and additional showers and laundries, we can push 20,000 gallons per month total.

I'm billed quarterly, and the bill has never been higher than $65. Winter months it's around $15.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 08:12:09 EDT

laserfan posted :

said by John97:

...a leak in the irrigation system.

Thanks for coming back here and letting us know.

If you learn any good methods for finding irrigation system leaks in the process, by all means tell us that too. I sometimes think I have a leak in my 2" rainwater transport pvc pipe(s), but haven't been able to find the issue despite that it rarely rains here and I oughta be able to find a wet spot in the soil!
:(

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:35:44 EDT

lutful posted :

said by Bob:

Two adults, one child, 7200 gallons per month (235 gallons per day).

We are also 2 adults + 1 kid and my water bill averages just under 1 cubic meter per day which converts to 264 US gallons. It is mainly my wife running water while applying 5 different hair care products.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 20:21:34 EDT

John97 posted : Got another water bill today...

After leaving the irrigation off for the month, I got a bill for 7100 gallons. The bill itself is under $14.

So, it looks like I got it figured out - a leak in the irrigation system. Since having an irrigation system is new to me, I am going to have someone come check it out and give it a once-over. Then i should be able to maintain it myself going forward from that point.
--
So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.
And take it to the limit one more time...

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 13:27:18 EDT

brian posted : It looks like for the last couple months we've been between 6-12K. That's for two adults, a 4 year old and an 8 month old. We do a lot of laundry, but don't have a huge yard to water, and I've not been watering it much the last few months because we've actually had some rain.
--
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Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 13:16:11 EDT

joetaxpayer posted :

said by dennismurphy:

We're on the high side of usage for a 3-person family, but we also have company pretty much every day (my wife's a teacher) all summer.

The 16K usage for the 3 months of winter look perfect, even low. I think that's the right way to judge usage. The lawn watering or pool filling create some crazy usage numbers/outliers.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 10:18:21 EDT

dennismurphy posted : Wish I could say I have an 'average' but it depends on the lawn and the pool ...

Last November, we had to replace the liner in my inground pool. That was approx ~25,000 gallons.

I then had to partially drain and refill this September before I closed it because of a wrinkle. Figure another ~15,000 gallons for that.

We also had a pretty hot summer so I had the sprinklers cranked up. Trying to rejuvenate the lawn so it needed quite a bit of water.

We're on the high side of usage for a 3-person family, but we also have company pretty much every day (my wife's a teacher) all summer.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 23:48:35 EDT

Iggy_AZ posted : Average 6,000 gal a month
2 adults, exterior plant/tree watering system
12,000 gallon swimming pool with auto fill.

Now we live in Arizona where summers get to 110 degrees and 3 % humidity. So water evaporates quickly

Avg cost per month is $35

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 10:05:51 EDT

joetaxpayer posted : 3 of us - my last bill was for 24,000 gal in 3 months. This included a few days of lawn watering which is the wild card.
One round of watering is 1200gal for my lawn.

35K gal in one month is pretty high. I'd hit that if I had to water every other day for the whole month, I suppose.

Edit - laserfan's 100G/P/D seems dead on. 100*3*90= 27,000 and I was at about 24,000.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:22:20 EDT

Bob posted : Ummm... Put some food coloring in the tank and see if it leaks into the bowl?

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:20:27 EDT

NotTheMama posted : On Christmas morning one of my toilets broke (little plastic piece holding the float). This turned out to be a good thing--silver lining and all, because I noticed that over the span of a few hours the tank would quickly approach empty with the intake turned off. My usage had been creeping up over the past four to six months, and it seems that this toilet using up something like 20 gallons or more per day when not even in use was the culprit. So, I'm expecting a noticeably reduced amount of usage in my next reading now that it's fixed.

Moral of the story: maybe turn off your toilets once in a while to ensure they're not doing something they shouldn't be.
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:21:49 EDT

Bob posted : I think 80 gallons per person per day is around normal.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 08:23:32 EDT

laserfan posted :

said by John97:

Thanks for the replies. This was my initial bill. Maybe they read the meter wrong when they started my service. I will have to keep an eye on the usage and see what we get.

Unless you have a leak somewhere, a wrong reading is a good guess. Or they're trying to stick you with the previous owner's unpaid bills.

You shouldn't be using more than 100gal per person per day unless you are doing a lot of lawn watering, or feeding a swimming pool in a drought. The two of us here in TX are on rainwater only and use (far) less than 5000g per month.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:56:01 EDT

DKS posted :

said by DataDoc:

said by DKS:

No lawn watering.

I wouldn't have a lawn that couldn't live off rain only.

Weedkillers are also illegal. No point in watering weeds.
--
Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 02:29:29 EDT

silbaco posted : We received notification recently that one of our properties had used in excess of 16k gallons in a single month. Seemed like a lot considering no one is living there at the moment. All because the toilet apparently didn't stop running in the basement. :(

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 01:41:10 EDT

nocannothave posted : Billed bi-monthly.

Last seven bills:

15
12
15
15
11
11
10

Each unit equals 748 gallons. We average 4755 gallons per month, or 158 gallons per day. Two people, two cats, no irrigation on city water.

15 unit bill breakdown:

sewer: $40.58
water: $36.38
storm: $5.30
ambulance utility fee: $11
utility tax: $5

$49.13 per month for the heaviest usage.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:58:02 EDT

sailor posted : From 9/1/2012 to 12/1/2012 I got billed for the minium for three months which is 7k gallons...Total bill of $13.70

I'm a family of one...Me....and that is town water....shower daily, laundry 2-3x's a week but I drink very little tap water....bill during the summer months is higher due to watering lawn and washing vehicle at least 1x a week.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:46:07 EDT

mattmag posted :

Are you sure that isn't measured in 100-gallon increments? That would make it 3,470 which would be much more realistic.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:55:00 EDT

sivran posted : 1-2k gallons here. We use so little that we left the kitchen faucet leaking for years. We finally replaced it when the plumbing underneath failed. No noticeable change in the water bill.
--
Think Outside the Fox.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:01:09 EDT

Bob posted :

said by guppy_fish:

Many locations in Florida have the highest annual rain fall in the US, water isn't an issue around here

Sorry, but only one location in the US can have the highest annual rainfall, and it's in Hawaii.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:13:17 EDT

ArgMeMatey posted :

said by John97:

No, it's for one month and it's our first bill. They do bill monthly, I did confirm that when I set everything up after buying the house.

Ask for the previous meter readings and billing history to ensure they did not bill you for usage prior to closing.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:08:27 EDT

guppy_fish posted :

said by Jack_in_VA:

I've read that water, not food is going to be the big item for conflict in the near future. The world's supply of usable water is running out.

Depends where you live ... Live in an arid location or depends on glacial runoff, yup you'll be looking for new place to live in the not to distant future. Many locations in Florida have the highest annual rain fall in the US, water isn't an issue around here

»www.livescience.com/1558-study-r···ies.html

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:25:27 EDT

Jack_in_VA posted :

said by DataDoc:

said by DKS:

No lawn watering.

I wouldn't have a lawn that couldn't live off rain only.

Pouring water on the lawn while changing to LED Bulbs to be green and conserve energy. :D

I've read that water, not food is going to be the big item for conflict in the near future. The world's supply of usable water is running out.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:13:20 EDT

DataDoc posted :

said by DKS:

No lawn watering.

I wouldn't have a lawn that couldn't live off rain only.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:48:25 EDT

bobrk posted : We use from 4K up to about 10K if we remember to water during the summer. 5 person household on a 7.5K ft lot with manual watering.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:03:31 EDT

Boricua65 posted : This is mine for the month of October. Me and two roommates, clothes washer, dishwasher and sprinklers on in the front twice on my designated water days (Tu, Thu, Sat).

EDIT: forgot to add a 50-gallon water heater.
--
Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. Robert Orben

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 12:55:38 EDT

Bob posted :

said by DKS:

We are changed for water and a 125% surcharge for sewage. My water/sewage bill is around $1400/year. No lawn watering.

$1,374.81 for calendar year 2012 here.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 12:49:12 EDT

workablob posted : About 6K per month. As high as 15K in the summer keeping the pool topped off.

Bill is usually under 30 bux a month.

Dave
--
I may have been born yesterday. But it wasn't at night.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 12:17:31 EDT

ke4pym posted :

said by DKS:

said by John97:

The bill is only for around $85.

Lucky you. We are changed for water and a 125% surcharge for sewage. My water/sewage bill is around $1400/year. No lawn watering.

This is familiar. My water bill, just for water is like, $4.25. But the whole bill is closer to $37 by the time sewer and storm water fees and daily availability fees and such are tacked on.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:18:59 EDT

quatrix posted :

said by John97:

The bill is only for around $85.

We pay that much for 4,000 gallons. Anyway, 6,000 average here for two adults and two small kids, and we never water the yard or wash the cars.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:06:30 EDT

tstolze posted : Family of 4, without watering we average 2800 gallons/month.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:01:39 EDT

cowboyro posted : 2 adults, 1 infant - about 5000gal/mo for fall - spring.
Summer adds a bit with the pool and lawn.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 09:46:51 EDT

DKS posted :

said by John97:

The bill is only for around $85.

Lucky you. We are changed for water and a 125% surcharge for sewage. My water/sewage bill is around $1400/year. No lawn watering.
--
Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 08:36:44 EDT

ke4pym posted : I use about 2800 gallons a month being single.

But I do have 2 aquariums I have to change out.

I too seem to take long showers. And my shower head is just a straight pipe into a sprinkler type head thingy. So, no low flow there.

I turned the house pressure down to compensate for that. Was at 80 psi, turned it down to 60. That knocked about $5 off my bill per month.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 07:54:31 EDT

pitroad01 posted : Widowed male living alone. Increased usage due to grass watering during dry periods.
[att=1]

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 07:51:01 EDT

exocet_cm posted : I had a similar "issue" when I bought my house last year. Water service was never cut or transferred to the contractor's name who bought it and sat on it for a few years.

My first reading was the culmination of the previous 5 years. Our water dept is pretty slow (in thinking). They said I was on the hook for tens of thousands of gallons of water in the first 30 days I was in the house. A few calls to the supervisor's supervisor with repeated explanations cleared things up (and the previous owner/contractor was back billed).

Make sure you aren't leaking on the meter side of things. Here is New Orleans everything leaks. If you have a leak on your side of the meter you can run up a bill quick.
--
"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons..." - T.S Eliot
"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence." - Publilius Syrus
Ma blog: »www.johndball.com

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:53:04 EDT
Mr Matt posted : If you can lift cover over the water meter and observe the dial on the water meter you can perform the following tests yourself. If you have a problem observing the water meter dial ask for a usage audit. Call the water department.

Start here: »www.hernandocounty.us/utils/

If they do not serve your home they can tell you who does from your address.

I normally use around 20,000 each month which includes lawn irrigation. One month my bill showed a usage of 41,000 gallons so I called the city water department for a FREE usage audit. The procedure the water department technician used was simple. He turned off all water in the home and irrigation system then observed the meter dial. If the meter dial indicator continues moving then you have a leak somewhere.

Most homes have a valve to shut off all water flow to the irrigation system and a separate valve to shut off water flow to the home plumbing system. First turn off the valve to the irrigation system. I had a high water usage in my previous residence one month and it turned out to be a leaking solenoid valve in the irrigation system. If the meter continues to show flow after turning off the valve to the irrigation system the problem is a leak in the homes plumbing. If the dial stops moving after shutting off the valve to the homes plumbing while the valve is open to the irrigation system the problem is in the irrigation system. If the meter shows water flow after turning off both valves the leak is between the meter and the shut off valves. By the way many homes have a T fitting at the output of the water meter with one line going to the irrigation system manifold and the other line going to the home plumbing. That is to reduce pressure drop in the home when the irrigation system is running.

Whether or not a leak is found the next step is to turn on each irrigation zone one at a time using a watch with a second hand and observe the water meter dial to determine how many gallons of water each irrigation system zone consumes per minute. If one zone's usage is substantially higher than the others there probably is a break in an irrigation system line. I had a broken line. When I ran the zone where the break was for a short time and I observed higher usage than the other zones and discovered a puddle form where the break was located. You can multiply the number of gallons used per minute by the number of minutes each zone is set to run for, by the number of days the irrigation system runs each month, to calculate the number of gallons lawn irrigation consumes each month.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:00:17 EDT
John97 posted : Thanks again for the replies.

The bill is only for around $85.

Irrigation system has been off. We've had enough rain. It's programmed to only run on Mondays. I checked that. We're on water restrictions, only allowed to do one-day watering. According to my address, that day is Monday. But, I have the switch in the OFF position so it won't run at all.

--
So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.
And take it to the limit one more time...

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:46:28 EDT
TheMG posted : 3 of us in the house, about 2000 per month in the winter and the summer can be double that or more (depending on rainfall).

Low-flush toilets, quick showers with low GPM heads, and front-loading washing machine.

34,700 gallons seems insane. At the rates we pay, that would cost well over $1000!!!!!

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:25:45 EDT
GadgetsRme posted :
said by guppy_fish:
Check your irrigation timer, probably running daily and the most common reason for high water bills or a busted pipe in the irrigation. Leaking main copper from the meter to the home is another common occurrence in FL

If a leak in a pipe is the cause it is going to be hard to find unless it is indoors where damage is easily visible. A 1/16" hole over the period of month can lose 24333 gals. + or -. If it is deep in the ground it could take quite some time to locate. That is assuming a line pressure of 60 psi.
--
Gadgets

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:03:26 EDT
guppy_fish posted : Check your irrigation timer, probably running daily and the most common reason for high water bills or a busted pipe in the irrigation. Leaking main copper from the meter to the home is another common occurrence in FL

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 22:35:37 EDT
fartness posted : Just got my bill the other day. I used 3000 gallons in 3 months. I am billed quarterly, so that means I use 1000 gallons a month. I take long showers too, but my bathroom is new, so I'm sure it has all the water saver features built in.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:46:58 EDT
nunya posted : Family of 4, I use about 4-5K / month. No outdoor watering.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:38:08 EDT
Bob posted : Two adults, one child, 7200 gallons per month (235 gallons per day).

Bill Date Usage Read Type

12/17/2012 8000 Gallons Automatic Read
11/15/2012 7000 Gallons Automatic Read
10/16/2012 7000 Gallons Automatic Read
09/17/2012 6000 Gallons Automatic Read
08/17/2012 7000 Gallons Automatic Read
07/18/2012 7000 Gallons Automatic Read
06/18/2012 8000 Gallons Automatic Read
05/17/2012 8000 Gallons Automatic Read
04/16/2012 7000 Gallons Automatic Read
03/15/2012 8000 Gallons Automatic Read
02/14/2012 7000 Gallons Automatic Read
01/16/2012 6000 Gallons Automatic Read

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:26:58 EDT
dosdoxies posted : I just looked at my bills. My highest this year was 30,000 for May, June and July. 2 people, 2 dogs, but the wife does water her gardens a lot in the summer. I agree, 34,700 is an awful lot for one month unless you're running a car wash on the side. :)
--
The more people I meet, the better I like my dogs.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:22:51 EDT
Zorack posted : 34k would put my ass in shock for a month,that would usually mean a serious water leakage to me....
--
Matt Barlow Rules! Bring him back to Iced Earth! \m/

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:19:13 EDT
John97 posted :
said by dosdoxies:
Where I live they read the meter every 3 months. Is your bill for 1 month or more?

No, it's for one month and it's our first bill. They do bill monthly, I did confirm that when I set everything up after buying the house. But you are right, it was quarterly billing everyplace I lived prior to coming here.
--
So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.
And take it to the limit one more time...

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:16:29 EDT
dosdoxies posted : Where I live they read the meter every 3 months. Is your bill for 1 month or more?
--
The more people I meet, the better I like my dogs.

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:08:28 EDT
John97 posted : Thanks for the replies. This was my initial bill. Maybe they read the meter wrong when they started my service. I will have to keep an eye on the usage and see what we get.
--
So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.
And take it to the limit one more time...

Re: How much water does your family use in a month?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:04:52 EDT
R4M0N posted : Wow... High usage for my family (me, wife, 5 year-old, 4 month-old) is 7K gallons per month, low usage is 4.5K gallons...

5 yea-old only takes baths and wife loves long hot showers.

Your water usage should be in CCF (hundreds of cubic feet). 1 CCF = about 748 gallons.