Gouged by the DC government for...drinking water?

[Anonymous]

DC charges a lot for water. Always has.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours was routinely $120-$140-ish per month. Family of two parents and two young kids so ran the dishwasher every day and lots of laundry.

DC bakes in a lot of fees. I'm looking at paying far less per month in NOVA.

DP, but 2 parent, 2 kid family in NOVA and pay 120-130 per quarter for water and sewer with Fairfax Water. So basically 1/3 DC cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours was routinely $120-$140-ish per month. Family of two parents and two young kids so ran the dishwasher every day and lots of laundry.

DC bakes in a lot of fees. I'm looking at paying far less per month in NOVA.

DP, but 2 parent, 2 kid family in NOVA and pay 120-130 per quarter for water and sewer with Fairfax Water. So basically 1/3 DC cost.

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC charges a lot for water. Always has.

Is that because there are more exemptions in DC? For example, does anyone know if gov or subsidized housing have to pay for water?

[Anonymous]

Fairfax Water is billed quarterly and we average about 100 a month for a family of 5. The majority cost is for the sewer portion, not the water usage.

I rebuilt the toilet internals and replaced the stem valves in the tubs/showers to prevent running and leaking, and cut the bill by about 30%.

Everything in DC is a racket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax Water is billed quarterly and we average about 100 a month for a family of 5. The majority cost is for the sewer portion, not the water usage.

I rebuilt the toilet internals and replaced the stem valves in the tubs/showers to prevent running and leaking, and cut the bill by about 30%.

Everything in DC is a racket.

This. Politicians here take advantage of the fact that people in DC tend to feel uncomfortable complaining about the cost of government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax Water is billed quarterly and we average about 100 a month for a family of 5. The majority cost is for the sewer portion, not the water usage.

I rebuilt the toilet internals and replaced the stem valves in the tubs/showers to prevent running and leaking, and cut the bill by about 30%.

Everything in DC is a racket.

This. Politicians here take advantage of the fact that people in DC tend to feel uncomfortable complaining about the cost of government.

Not really. They take advantage of the fact that a large portion of the population is itinerant and the rest are told that they should not expect better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:check for leaks

+1. Sounds like there is a leak somewhere.

I've found that usage really only moves the bill up or down 10-20 dollars, after the 100 dollar(ish) base rate calculated from your house/apartment foot print square footage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:check for leaks

+1. Sounds like there is a leak somewhere.

I've found that usage really only moves the bill up or down 10-20 dollars, after the 100 dollar(ish) base rate calculated from your house/apartment foot print square footage.

Not if there’s a leak. A leaky toilet can costs hundreds of dollars.

[Anonymous]

The cost is likely to increase because payment will soon be optional.

https://www.washingtoninformer.com/dc-water-shutoffs-health-threats/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are water bills here so insane? Our water bill is more than our cable bill. I have never lived in a place where it felt like the government was gouging me for a basic necessity like drinking water.

DC Water is not the DC Government.

[Anonymous]

DC Water bills increased quite a lot (tripled?) about two years ago due to DC Water's Clean River Project. Basically, our sewers have stayed the same since colonial times and they are now being rebuilt. We are footing the bill. I has to be done. No getting around it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Water bills increased quite a lot (tripled?) about two years ago due to DC Water's Clean River Project. Basically, our sewers have stayed the same since colonial times and they are now being rebuilt. We are footing the bill. I has to be done. No getting around it.

and, ironically, water usage is down because of low flow toilets, faucets, etc so they have to charge more to cover the costs.

Don't get me wrong, I support efforts to consume less but in areas like ours, where there is not a potential water shortage, that comes with some unintended consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:check for leaks

+1. Sounds like there is a leak somewhere.

I've found that usage really only moves the bill up or down 10-20 dollars, after the 100 dollar(ish) base rate calculated from your house/apartment foot print square footage.

Not if there’s a leak. A leaky toilet can costs hundreds of dollars.

No PP. if you don’t live in the District of Columbia, then you don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s very easy to confirm that there’s not a leak by going to the website of DC water.

Each water bill has anywhere from $85-$115 as a starting point. That’s just fees and pass through costs for rebuilding the infrastructure. Water usage is usually about 40 bucks and I don’t think that’s what is complaining about. The big chunk of the bill is sewer fees. Again you get dinged there it’s a pass-through cost for upgrading the infrastructure in the district of Columbia.

As a point of reference, I am a single person but living in a big single-family home That’s relevant because they charge you for all your impermeable surfaces such as roof, driveway, patio, etc. My water bill is routinely $200 a month and I am absolutely certain I have no leak

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:check for leaks

+1. Sounds like there is a leak somewhere.

I've found that usage really only moves the bill up or down 10-20 dollars, after the 100 dollar(ish) base rate calculated from your house/apartment foot print square footage.

Not if there’s a leak. A leaky toilet can costs hundreds of dollars.

No PP. if you don’t live in the District of Columbia, then you don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s very easy to confirm that there’s not a leak by going to the website of DC water.

Each water bill has anywhere from $85-$115 as a starting point. That’s just fees and pass through costs for rebuilding the infrastructure. Water usage is usually about 40 bucks and I don’t think that’s what is complaining about. The big chunk of the bill is sewer fees. Again you get dinged there it’s a pass-through cost for upgrading the infrastructure in the district of Columbia.

As a point of reference, I am a single person but living in a big single-family home That’s relevant because they charge you for all your impermeable surfaces such as roof, driveway, patio, etc. My water bill is routinely $200 a month and I am absolutely certain I have no leak

They charge for water based on…the size of your driveway?