[Randy Culture]

My water bill for 5 people in a 2100 sf house with mostly desert landscaping is usually over $100 per month. Please tell me if this is normal. Thanks.

[Chest Rockwell]

You might have a leak somewhere. That seems awful high. Do you have a pool?

[Matt Angry]

Vegas or Henderson? Mine for a 2400 sq ft is about $50 a month.

[ByebyeVegas]

I have desert landscaping and I don't pay more than $40 a month. $100 sounds like a leak. Call a plumbing company to check it out.

[Mom2Five]

Originally Posted by Randy Culture

My water bill for 5 people in a 2100 sf house with mostly desert landscaping is usually over $100 per month. Please tell me if this is normal. Thanks.

It seems like a bit more than you should be paying. OTOH, you have 5 people in the home - it might be running the clothes or dishwasher alot, alot of showering, etc. And you may have a leak somewhere.

Are you doing full loads of wash, full loads of dishes? You'd be surprised at the difference it makes.

[ParkTwain]

In your garage, turn off the main going into your home. Then go out to the curb in front of your house, lift off the cover to your home's water meter, then watch its flow indicator (a little black needle, probably) to see whether it's fluttering even when your ingoing main is shut. If it's still fluttering, you either have (1) your lawn watering system running (turn it off and check the meter again), or (2) a leak in your lawn watering system.

If the needle is not fluttering, then go back in the garage and open the ingoing water main valve again. If there's nothing in your home actually using water at that point in time (questionable to verify, perhaps), you can also observe the water meter needle again for any fluttering.

So yes you might have a leak somewhere in your home's plumbing. That could be a serious development in the longer run.

My home's water bill (2,500 sq ft home, 2 persons, with outdoor irrigation for small front and back yard spaces) is barely $20/mo.

[cjski21]

There has to be a leak. My fiance does laundry every day it seems and we run the dishwasher every night and we payed only $16 this month.

[AA702]

Yeah, I have a large lawn and my bill is about that much in the summer, but only $25 in the winter.

[Randy Culture]

Thanks for the help. I checked for a leak as described above, but the meter didn't move. Hopefully it will go down now in cool weather. Maybe I was watering too much. I turned the sprinkler to once a week now.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by Randy Culture

Thanks for the help. I checked for a leak as described above, but the meter didn't move. Hopefully it will go down now in cool weather. Maybe I was watering too much. I turned the sprinkler to once a week now.

YOu were watching the little red and white flow indicator? You can have a substantial leak and not see the main needle move. But the little red and white rotator is quite sensitive.

Note that the rates are pretty progressive so over-watering gets expensive quick.