Got my water bill yesterday. It's $700! Whereas, usually, it's around $100 every 3 months!! Will be calling a plumber today.

Might be a random question, but shouldn't the water company send out a notice that your usage is way high earlier into the cycle? I only received a letter like last week or two saying its "20% higher than usual" – not 1,000x higher than usual!

If I had known 2-2.5 MONTHS ago (quarterly bills) I could've gotten a plumber in sooner and resolved the problem earlier – saving me hundreds of dollars. I'm kind of crawling in my skin about this bill – as I pay most of it. And who knows where the water is leaking to!

Thank you in advance,

Great, and great. lol What costs and fees have you run into with separating the meters, WL?

Just talked to the water company and they said it's absolutely internal because the line from the street goes to the meter which goes directly to the house. They also said they should be able to do a one-time adjustment/credit on my bill.

She then said I can do the leak testing myself, but after my experience with one tenant who is coincidentally leaving at the end of this month, I'd rather get a written professional's opinion.

This just goes to show it's a good thing I've signed off EVERY letter written to my tenants with "as always, please let us know of any maintenance concerns".

Also, thankfully I copied and sent the water bill notice about the 20% increase to them asking if anyone knows of any leaks, or any reason this might be (I think one of the girls has let her boyfriend live there for a few months, which I brushed off because they're out this month and her roommate hadn't been around). But now I'm rethinking this.... *sigh*.

DaveS (IL)Scroll down this page to sub-meters

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ttp://www.mrlandlord.com/suppliers.html

Water saving tips

Run your washing machine and dishwasher only when they are full and you could save 1,000 gallons a month

Use the garbage disposal sparingly. Compost instead and save gallons every time.

Collect the water you use for rinsing produce and reuse it for watering houseplants.

Keeping your shower time under 5 minutes could save you up to 1,000 gallons a month.

Put food coloring in your toilet tank. If it seeps into the toilet bowl, you just discovered a leak. Having a slow leak repaired could save you around 600 gallons a month. (A toilet flapper stuck in a wide open position could waste abound 3,000 gallons per day!)

Have leaky faucets repaired and you can save over 500 gallons a month.

Match the water level to the size of your load when doing your laundry.

Turn off the water while brushing your teeth and save 4 gallons a minute. That equates to 800 gallons a month for a family of four.

Turn off the water while you shave and save more than 400 gallons a month.

Plug the bathtub before adjusting the temperature as the tub fills up.

If the current bill is high, your next one will be too!!

Act quickly to find and fix that leak.

You should learn to read the meter yourself. You can read it every day if you like. But you can certainly read it for a few days to see what the current usage is.

On a somewhat related subject, water conservation...

Go to youtube and search "pee in the shower". You will have to opportunity to view a cartoon public service commercial, a REAL commercial, actually run in Brazil, that tells you to conserve water by peeing in the shower. Did you know you are wasting up to 12 liters per flush??

It's animated and funny, but kinda scary.

We have an overage on water use. We had Tenants that had a car washing station at their house. Water bill was tremendous, thought we had a leak.

I had a $3,500 bill for a building where the bill is normally $700. What really burned me is that by the time I got the bill in the mail, it had been 2 months since the actual reading date when the water company had gone to the building. So the water department had known the reading was 5 times the normal amount for 2 months and didn't inform me. When I complained, they told me to pound sand.

If you think there may be a leak take a look at your meter with everything turned off if it's spinning there is a leak somewhere . That way you'll have a better idea of what's going on before the high priced plumber gets there.

Okay, well the plumber came by this morning and found the meter. It's at the curb in one of those holes with the big metal circular caps. No water running in the house, no one home, and the dial wasn't even moving a millimeter. Went in and ran the bathtub faucet and the meter started moving.

To make a long story short, the water company INCREDIBLY mis-read the water meter (they read 2061 [hundreds of cubic feet] and we read 1908). They will be sending someone out to re-read the meter and adjust the bill.

Now, I know where the meter is and how to read it. I'm ALSO going to engage in a program that covers your underground water pipes (both in and out) for about $50/year, because I almost threw up when I saw the bill!!

As always, thanks for all the feedback guys!

Put a utility cap clause in future leases and collect the security deposit on signing to deduct overages from.

John,

Similar to what SAM (OR) was talking about, right?

Pay the first $100 (or whatever amount) per quarter, then split the rest between the house? (great suggestion btw Sam!).