DS left garden hose on for 36 hours, how much water bill are we looking at?

[Anonymous]

You all are completely off the mark. Water is nowhere near that expensive! We had our water filter gushing full blast for a week through our 2k ft house in DC for one week in 2013. The bill was @$300.00 extra that month. OP you're looking at maybe 50 dollars worth of water. Your DH has an anger problem regardless of the amount of money involved here.

[Anonymous]

You can read your own meter to get an estimate. We have done that in the past when we received a bill that was way out of the norm - turned out the meter reader had read the meter incorrectly (and we were charged a “higher” rate based on winter usage - or something like that).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our sprinkler system runs close to 90 minute a day, 7 days a week and in the peak of summer we might hit 1500 for the quarter.

Godalmighty why do you water so much?! Do you live on a golf course? You can plant things that require almost no watering, you know. And grass is meant to turn brown in August--it will turn green again in late september without you watering it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll assume a garden hose can spit out about 10 gallons per minute. That's 21,600 gallons in 36 hours. Arlington County charges $13.27 per 1000 gallons, so that's $286.63. Test your hose by timing how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket and adjust accordingly. And check your water bill for the rates.

And is your yard or neighbor's yard flooded? That's a lot of water.

This is kinda hot in a nerdy glass- wearing kind of way. I assume you are also diligent about car maintenance, wake up just before your alarm clock goes off, and pick out your cutlery by how it feels in your hand versus how it looks

Hahahahah. Not the previous poster, but you are too funny!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll assume a garden hose can spit out about 10 gallons per minute. That's 21,600 gallons in 36 hours. Arlington County charges $13.27 per 1000 gallons, so that's $286.63. Test your hose by timing how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket and adjust accordingly. And check your water bill for the rates.

And is your yard or neighbor's yard flooded? That's a lot of water.

This is kinda hot in a nerdy glass- wearing kind of way. I assume you are also diligent about car maintenance, wake up just before your alarm clock goes off, and pick out your cutlery by how it feels in your hand versus how it looks

Hahahahah. Not the previous poster, but you are too funny!

Damn now that is some good linear/extrapolation math. I do numbers for a living and pp provides not only inputs but current Arl. Co. Rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our sprinkler system runs close to 90 minute a day, 7 days a week and in the peak of summer we might hit 1500 for the quarter.

did you landscape your yard into a rainy forest?

Not that it matters but we have 12 zones, 7-8 minutes a zone on days when it hasn't rained - ends up around 90 minutes.

It's better for your plants (including grass) to water less frequently and longer -- you want the water to soak down so the plants develop deep roots.

[Anonymous]

You could always ask if the county allows for a one time exception/excuse seeing that it is such a large bill. My mother had an exceptionally large bill once that she didn't understand why (later found there was a broken supply line from the street to the house that was for exterior spickets)- she called the water authority (FFax Co) and they chopped 50% off without questioning what was going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our sprinkler system runs close to 90 minute a day, 7 days a week and in the peak of summer we might hit 1500 for the quarter.

did you landscape your yard into a rainy forest?

Not that it matters but we have 12 zones, 7-8 minutes a zone on days when it hasn't rained - ends up around 90 minutes.

It's better for your plants (including grass) to water less frequently and longer -- you want the water to soak down so the plants develop deep roots.

This exactly. You'd do better to deeply water each zone early in the morning as possible for 40 minutes each once a week during extremely hot periods. Soaking the ground gives you a little underground reservoir. You want the root system to search for water downwards where it's cool rather than upwards where the heat is. Repeatedly spraying grass briefly with water causes roots to grow towards the surface searching for water. The grass is then weak and dies the moment you miss a watering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could always ask if the county allows for a one time exception/excuse seeing that it is such a large bill. My mother had an exceptionally large bill once that she didn't understand why (later found there was a broken supply line from the street to the house that was for exterior spiciest)- she called the water authority (FFax Co) and they chopped 50% off without questioning what was going on.

It's spigots--not spickets--just so you know

[Anonymous]

In Maryland this winter we let the faucets drip a lot because of the cold weather and it added a surprising $100 more to the quarterly bill we get. Had no idea it would be that expensive.

Sounds like you could always contest the bill or ask for an exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our sprinkler system runs close to 90 minute a day, 7 days a week and in the peak of summer we might hit 1500 for the quarter.

Geez that is not good for your grass, unless it's zoned and it's a different zone each day.

I subscribe to the adage of infrequent but deep watering for the lawn. Basically flood it once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, this is what stands out to me: YOU will pay for the water this month? You and DH, with whom you share two kids, don't share finances?

I agree. Your DH sounds like a piece of work, and you two have a bit of an immature financial setup. Just sayin'.

+1. this is a much bigger problem than how much your water bill is going to be.

Wow. Way to be judgemental. Some people share all finances, some people don't. Presuming to understand, much less judge, the motivation for why people handle something as personal as their finances is stupid. Especially when someone just came here to ask about a water bill.
As for me and my wife, we have two joint bank accounts. One with my name on top and one with hers on top. Our pay checks get deposited in our respective accounts. She pays the mortgage, I pay all other household expenses. It works. We each have access to the others account if we need be but we have definite demarcation of our spending. And if my wife did something that caused us to have a 1200 dollar water bill I am positive she would offer to chip in to pay some or all of it.

I don't think I'd be furious over it though. But in my house this sort of thing would be rare.

Yikes.

+ 1,000,000

I am totally giving my husband a bj as soon as he gets home for not being you!

[Anonymous]

We accidentally left our soaker hose on for 2 weeks (right around the time DS was born and I was in zombie mode) and our bill came to $780 instead of our usual $140 (we are billed quarterly in Montgomery County). An expensive lesson learned! Surprisingly no flooding though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Maryland this winter we let the faucets drip a lot because of the cold weather and it added a surprising $100 more to the quarterly bill we get. Had no idea it would be that expensive.

Sounds like you could always contest the bill or ask for an exception.

Based on sympathy? Negligence? Just pay the bill. You consumed the water.