How much should my water bill be?

I recently moved into a three-story two-family house with a washer and dishwasher, and we pay for the tenant’s water. So far, we’re averaging about $100 a month. Is this normal?

DouglasAlan

in Energy Efficiency 13 years and 3 months ago

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Silvermax | 13 years and 3 months ago

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We average a little over $800 annually for 6 adults, 3 DW, only 1 is high efficiency, 2 HE washing machines, HE toilets throughout. 70-gal HOG rain barrel in the garden.

SewardWasRight | 13 years and 3 months ago

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When you give someone something free, the likelihood is high that they are going to use it with abandon. I woudn’t be surprised if the culprit were long, long, long showers in the tenant apartment. But what to do about that, I do not know.

slopegirl | 13 years and 3 months ago

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DEP will say it’s the number of residents that affects usage. They were pretty helpful when I called. Our building has 8 people in it, and we wash diapers too. Our monthly water/sewer bill is about $110.

parkslopemom | 13 years and 3 months ago

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We’re in a 4 story, two family house (one water/sewage bill). Two kitchens ( 2 dishwashers – efficient Bosch’s), three full bathrooms, one shared laundry room that gets use 4 times a week (front loading washer). 5 adults and one child total (lots of showers, etc.) We water our garden all summer. Again, the water & sewage are combined, but for 2011 we used 263 HCF of water, annual water/sewage bill was $2,032.32, = $169.32 per month.

daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Check for running toilets.  they can run without you actually hearing them.  Turn off shutoff valve and wait a day to see if the tank drains.  Replace flap.   I do very little laundry and hardly ever run dishwasher.  Additionally, I have water conserving front loading Bosch washer.

cupolacoffee | 13 years and 3 months ago

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We have a three-family house with washer/dryer and dishwasher in each unit. Couples and kids throughout. Quarterly bill is approx. $270\. You can check past usage online by logging onto your Water Board account. I think there’s a chance you have a small hidden leak somewhere (a dripping faucet, a running toilet, etc.). If a leak, find it before it gets worse. BTW, a full dishwasher saves water over handwashed dishes.

DouglasAlan | 13 years and 3 months ago

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We do about five to seven loads of laundry or more and use our dishwasher about three times per week. I’m figuring this is above average because we have a baby in cloth diapers and we do most of our own cooking.

daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Just doing my taxes and my water bill was $528 in 2010 and$570 in 2011 for the same size house with me and two tenants, with a washer in basement and my dishwasher (rarely used).  your usage sounds very high.