Why Is My Water Bill Too High?

Your water bill being too high could be a number of reasons. The first thing you want to consider is whether your usage has changed. Did you fill a swimming pool with a garden hose? Did you just rent the downstairs apartment to a family with five young children and they have a washing machine doing overtime? The next thing to check is the bill to see whether the reading was actually made or, estimated. Several billing cycles estimated then finally a real reading is taken can result in a correction that may seem like unusual usage.

After checking the bill, you want to do is make sure no one is running water and check the water meter to see if it stops moving. On most meters there is a small triangular shaped indictor that will move even if only a small amount of water is used use this and record the numbers the meter indicates. Naturally the longer the period of time you can have the water not run and observe the meter the better you indication of leaks will be. Check all the fixtures in the home for leaks. A faucet that drips just 10 drips per minute adds up to over 525 gallons of water per year. A faucet that runs in a minimal steady stream can waste 15,768 gallons of water per year or, about 1,300 gallons of water per month.

Check the toilets for leaking flappers or fill valves that are overfilling the tanks causing them to overflow. Put dye tablets or, food coloring in the toilet tank and check for the color appearing in the bowl without the toilet being flushed. A leaking toilet can waste a couple of hundred gallons a day pouring water down the drain. Homes with meter boxes outside may indicate leaks on the supply line to the home. Homes with slab foundations may have leaks under the slab that would show on the meter. If there is no water being used in the home, yet the meter still indicates water flowing an underground leak may be your problem. You can use the main valve to isolate whether the problem is in the line to the home or, it is a slab leak under the home. Finally if no leaks can be found, and there were no changes in usage, you may want to contact your water provider and ask them to check the meter. It is possible that the meter is defective and providing an erroneous reading.