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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat are you paying per month for water & sewer?
Chris Hayes just said people in Detroit are averaging $65/mo.
I have a small ranch house in the Chicago suburbs drawing Lake Michigan water and I'm paying about a quarter of that. My mom's house is farther from the lake and she pays more than I do but still not Detroit rates.
hack89
(39,171 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)We have our own septic system. Our electricity runs within a buck or two of 100 a month.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)I mean, not counting putting the septic in.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)My pumps don't run on wishes!
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)Michigander_Life
(549 posts)That doesn't include sewer -- we are on city water but septic.
REP
(21,691 posts)avebury
(10,953 posts)water usage is pretty low.
onecent
(6,096 posts)small suburb of Kansas city, Mo
roody
(10,849 posts)town N. Cal. I am very conservative with water use. The rates will go up tomorrow.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Two separate bills for water and sewer and they bill every two months instead of every month. Water bill comes one month, then sewer bill based upon water bill comes the next.
JVS
(61,935 posts)Less in winter, more in summer.
Detroit's rates are likely made relatively high because the water capacity of Detroit was probably built up in the 1940s to supply 1.8 million people. In fact, they are likely to have anticipated an eventual population that never materialized and built infrastructure for over 2 million. So modern day Detroit is in the unenviable position of supporting an infrastructure larger than it needs. Which of course, is the same story they face with respect to pensions, schools, municipal services, etc.
Igel
(35,387 posts)It includes a couple bucks for trash. Otherwise water and sewer. Fairly new area, and the rule is that subdivisions pay off their own debt.
About the same as LA and other places I've lived, give or take $10.
What's outrageous about Detroit isn't the water bill; it's the sewage rates. It doesn't help that they have no reserves, nobody to bail them out and they've failed to have serious collection efforts for years (because they were politically unfavored). I've heard that up to 50% of the customers are behind, even though until recently there have been nifty payment plans and help for the indigent, and that there's a 4% increase over expenses just to pay for the shortfall from last year. That just makes it harder for the people who *do* pay to make ends meet.
Now, where I live the rates could be lower if the infrastructure were older and the debt load less. Detroit's is going to be higher because of the opposite effect--the infrastructure is very old and in need of serious work even as the population's imploded so there are fewer people that the extensive decaying infrastructure is serving. There are also fewer payers to cover the existing debt (and even fewer payers on the existing debt) and a lot of excesss.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Coventina
(27,223 posts)That's water, sewer & trash.
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)I have a septic tank.
That is for ONE PERSON and I don't even have a clothes washer. Use a laundrymat. I run the dishwasher once a week.
Nor do I water outside, or have a pool or hot tub or anything like that.
My water bill is insane.
Edit to add, I am in rural SE Pennsylvania.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)It's pretty high. It's good water, I'll say that.
FSogol
(45,582 posts)Glitterati
(3,182 posts)right on the shores of a Corp of Engineers Lake, which is the water source.
Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)I pay about 15 a month. (Water only, I'm on septic).
Water and sewer have very high fixed cost, and very low marginal costs (its cheap to purify a few thousand gallons of water, very expensive to maintain the billion dollar sewer system. If Detroit gained 500k households, the cost to run the sewer district wouldn't really increase all that much, but they would have 500k extra people paying into the system, and could drop the rates.
NutmegYankee
(16,204 posts)I'm in a 1950s -1960s subdivision that's out in the boonies. We have a neighborhood well system that uses 10 wells to provide our water, chlorinated at the federal minimum, but not fluoridated (too small). The neighborhood once had septic systems for each house but the town ran sewers up in the 1980s, so almost everyone has switched. There are some homes that are on their own well. A non-profit state sponsored water authority runs our system.
phylny
(8,393 posts)Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I just opened a new bill today, $33.44.
I do live alone so I can believe that a family could pay twice that much. I would like to see the math that has residential customers in Detroit averaging ~$65/mo. If that is accurate then for everyone like me who is paying ~$35.00/mo there is someone paying ~$95.00/mo. I suppose it is possible but it seems unlikely to me.
PassingFair
(22,434 posts)So we pay almost $70.00 per month. More in the summer months.
We are a family of 4.
We NEVER water our lawn.
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I can see a family of 4 paying roughly double what I pay.
Besides that, the 'burbs pay more for water than those of us in the city.
The average in the city being ~$65.00 still seems high to me, but I could easily be wrong.
dem in texas
(2,674 posts)around $65 per month, this includes water, sewer and garbage pickup. This is the minimum. If you water your lawn or garden your bill will much higher, probably double. I used to have a huge English style flower garden plus a vegetable garden and my bill ran over a $100 a month and more in the summer. I have quit watering my lawn because of the water shortage in Texas and too old to garden anymore.
Still Sensible
(2,870 posts)here in central Oklahoma
JeffHead
(1,186 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)tammywammy
(26,582 posts)Single person household, some watering of bushes/flowers, but not the lawn. Sometimes gets up to $45.
Crabby Appleton
(5,231 posts)up until about 6 months ago it was $22 per month but the town had to buy another garbage truck and they raised the rates to pay for it.
Grammy23
(5,815 posts)depending on usage. This includes water, sewer and garbage pick up including our recycle can, plus yard clippings once a week. They will come out and pick up large items if you call them, like old hot water heaters or appliances, but there is a charge. Still cheaper than driving out to the landfill where there is also a charge based on weight and the gas it takes to get out there and back. (20 + miles one way)
We live in Escambia County (Northwest Florida).
procon
(15,805 posts)Private local water co. with $128 monthly minimum. Everyone here has septic tanks with leach lines which over time have contaminated 2 of our 5 wells.
nolabels
(13,133 posts)This assumes the installation cost is lumped inside the mortgage and a yearly pumping so the septic system doesn't screw things up.
So yea, my monthly, water about $110, sewer $40+, trash $32
just because life ain't cheap out here in the So Cal Desert
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)for both units of this duplex, so I guess that makes it about $75. We have unlimited usage; it's a flat rate.
craigmatic
(4,510 posts)SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)ohheckyeah
(9,314 posts)so all I pay is the electricity to run the water.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)well last year ... $700.oo
kentauros
(29,414 posts)I'd have to ask my landlord. I only know he pays about $2500/mo electric for 16 units. That may have gone down since the installation of a white rubberized roof. I know it does cool better in the summer now.
And even with water/sewer as part of my rent, I've always tried to be frugal with water use (another reason why I was happy to go from film to digital; home film-development is a water-intensive process.) So, low-flow showerheads, short showers, short dishwasher cycles, not flushing for every little tinkle, and so forth.
If you are allowed, you might also collect rainwater, at least for watering your lawn and plants
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)try to find our contract.
I did do some calculations based on estimates of national averages with known rates in the City of St. Louis, around where I live.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=837722
Here's most of the post:
[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]A month ago our landlord asked us to check for leaks in the basement of the building because she just got the water bill and it was 300 dollars, for four families in one building, which was, as she put it, way too damned high. We found no leak in the basement, it was another issue with another apartment in the building, but the point is, 70 dollars a month, for water? Are you effing kidding me?
I've seen my Dad's water bill, having his own house it is, of course, separate, and unless he was filling the above ground pool, never goes above 50 dollars a month, and even with filling the pool, it doesn't break more than 150. Now, he doesn't live in the largest city in our area, but a smaller city that uses county rates, I couldn't find their rates, so here are the rates for City of St. Louis.
If you qualify for flat rate, this is how its calculated as of 2010:
Room charge, each $3.76
Water closet, each $14.72
Baths, each $12.35
Shower, separate from bath, each $12.35
So I'll do some math here, lets say for a 3 bedroom house, 1 and a half bath, seems reasonable for a middle class to lower middle class home, also the model for my Dad's house minus half a bath. 3 bedrooms+kitchen+living room/den equals $18.80. Add in the 1 and a half bath and it comes to $60.59. This is two water closets and a bath plus the rooms.
So how about metered rates, for those that want them, well, first, there is a readiness to serve charge based on size of the meter, which is, from what I can gather, the size(diameter) of the service line into the house/building.
Meter Size
5/8" $23.84
3/4" $27.78
1" $35.22
1 1/2" $50.93
2" $74.02
3" $143.51
4" $254.55
6" $485.99
8" $740.53
10" $1018.25
Now, I'm not an expert on plumbing, but I'm assuming that from the lowest to 1 and a half inch meter would be typical for individual households. So let's say 1" for a 3 bedroom 1 and a half bath house. I'm estimating here, it could be way off. So that's $35.22.
Then there's the quantity rates, this is your usage of water, here is how it is calculated:
For the first 25,000 cubic feet per billing, $1.77 per 100 cubic feet of water
For the next 1,975,000 cubic feet per billing, $1.38 per 100 cubic feet of water
Over 2,000,000 cubic feet per billing, $1.04 per 100 cubic feet of water
Now, just for reference a cubic foot of water is about 7.5 gallons, rounded up. According to the EPA, the average American family uses 400 gallons of water a day. That's 1,604.28 cubic feet of water a month. Divide that by 100 and add in the dollar amount means that you are charged about $28.39 per month.
Oh, but the calculations above are for 3 months, so I must adjust the metered rate to $85.18 plus $35.22, which is $120.40, for 3 months of water, the most expensive I calculated yet. Even then, its still about $40 dollars a month. My question is, what type of mismanagement is there with Detroit's water division to overcharge on water so badly?
We have plentiful fresh water in our area, lots of lakes, streams, and two of the largest rivers in the world, and its not like we don't treat the shit out of this water, they are also quite polluted after all. But you can say the same of Detroit.
ON EDIT: Sorry, forgot to link to the water rates and where I got them: http://www.stlwater.com/waterrates.php
onethatcares
(16,206 posts)water, sewerage, trash pickup without recycling.
left coast of Florida, St. Petersburg
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)I live in suburban Detroit and my water and sanitary sewer is through the Detroit system
blueamy66
(6,795 posts)nt
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)in addition the bill includes:
Water Connection Charge
Fire Protection Charge (ostensibly for the "cost" of water used fighting fires in the community, it's not at all clear that this fee is actually scheduled at just the cost).
Sewer Connection Charge
Local Sewer Usage Charge
MMSD Sewer Usage Charge billings from the Milw. Metro Sanitary District for MMSD projects ... currently this portion of the bill exceeds the price of the water used.
Storm Water Usage Charge - A charge that is based on the amount of impervious area on your property...area that won't absorb water.
THe monthly bill hovers around $60. The fee for water usage (for 2 adults) is about $12.
Ino
(3,366 posts)In St. Louis. Those are flat rates -- not based on usage. So not a good deal for a single person.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)55 sewer , 2.50 utility, amd the rest is based on usage.