... how much water do you use per month?

My landlord keeps calling me each month to tell me that our water use is the highest out of all 6 townhouses in this unit. My first thought is "so what I'm paying for the water," but then I was thinking that all of the other townhouses only have one person in them as opposed to here where it's Liz and me.

We seem to average 3-4,000 gallons per month, is that high, low, or average... for two people?

Thanks,

-JT

Do you guys take a lot of ****?

We probably use 7-8 a month between my wife, 1 yr old and myself.

You pay the water bill? What exactly is his point then?

Some info here:

http://www.drinktap.org/consumerdnn/Home/WaterInformation/Conservation/WaterUseStatistics/tabid/85/Default.aspx 

#2 Have you seen the guy? He's so skinny that if the wind starts blowing hard enough, he has to turn to face it, otherwise he starts giving off a kind of whistling sound that attracts dogs from miles around. I doubt taking enormous **** is part of the equation.

#1 To answer the original question, our water softener monitors our usage, which makes it pretty easy to refute bull**** allegations like our water dept. claiming that we were using 400 gallons+ per day. Their equipment was faulty. Our usage depends on whether I'm doing water changes on my aquariums, anyone is doing a load of wash, etc., but generally, Mrs. Pacman and I (there is just the two of us living in the house) typically use between 75-95 gallons a day.

BTW, even with our water softener in use, the water here is pretty hard, so we drink bottled water. Not sure if you drink tapwater or not, but that would make a small difference. Kidney stones run in my family, and my wife has some exotic birds that could also have problems from hard water.

You probably have a slow leak , also cutting down on the watersports might help...

If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.'

#4 - That's my thinking... we pay it, why should he care? He's a pretty nice guy and we've rented from him continuously for 5 years now, so I tend to think that he's just watching out that we're not wasting money... or he's just worried that if there's a leak somewhere that we don't know about that could be causing unknown water damage.

#5 - thanks for the link Andy, I'll check it out.

#6-7 - we have a water meter in our utility room, but the landlord reads the usage from outside somehow... all there is out there is a little "black box" with no gauge I can see. I suppose now I'll take note of the reading before bed and once I wake up to see if we have a leak while there's no water being used overnight. But we don't drink bottled water, the water here tastes really good even though it's hard as a brick since this whole area is nothing but limestone. The water here is 270-280 percent harder than the national average... showers are like standing in a sandblaster.

-JT

I suppose I could blame Liz for taking long showers...

Or take showers with her

Who says I don't?

tell him to take a long walk on a short pier

Boston Water & Sewer is known for "spiking" up your usage amount every now and then to help them make their quarterly numbers.

Toilets are number one culprit of increased water useage. Check to see if it is leaking. Your numbers aren't overly high, but do seem up there.

And when meters go bad, they read less, not more.

Pac, if you have a softener, it is good you buy drinking water to a certain degree. Every mg/L of hardness is turned into a sodium ion. Salt intake is increased. And don't go by the softener guy on what high hardness is. Hardness is a measure of calcium and magnesium carbonates in the water. No real human health impact from it. Just better suds with the soap.

odd that you pay the water bill, but your landlord reads the meter or somehow knows your usage.

Do you get the bill via the landlord or does it come directly to you?

There is a curbside meter somewhere. Make sure you have no water going in the house or outdoor spigots, and go check the meter. You will need to watch it for a moment or two. It should not be turning. Not at all.

FWIW, there's two of us here, and we consume approximately 500 ft3/month (9 gal/ft3) an amount that I consider high but not excessive.

We have about 660 SFR users in our district, and consumption varies wildly dependent on consumer's 'water habits', so your landlord saying that you are big consumers is poppycock if it is only based on the consumption of some small # of users with whose meters he is familiar with. Nonethe less, he is probably simply making an observation and means no harm/is not condemning you.

I administer a small water district. Leaks are common. We adjust the bill to the previous 12 month average upon request.

Just so you 'know', check for a small leak. Check your toilets, too. One of them could be steadily over-filling.

and LouT, you sound like you know a little something about water.

Water saving tip #1;

If it's yellow - let it mellow.

If it's brown - flush it down.

: )

#19 see #9