ECWSA NEWS SPRING 2015 - How Could I Possibly Have Used That Much Water?!?

Laura Kamienski

ECWSA Office Administration

Of all of the comments I hear from customers, by far, the one I hear the most is some variation of disbelief at the amount of water they are consuming. There are a number of factors that could be contributing to a high usage bill.

The first, and most obvious, is some kind of water leak. When most people hear the word “leak”, what comes to mind is a gush of water flowing from a broken pipe. But leaks also include a dripping faucet, a running toilet bowl tank, or even a small hole in an outside hose. The chart below shows how much water can be used with even the smallest of leaks.

 This means that even a dripping faucet can use a lot of water! Even with a 1/16” leak (smaller than a pinhead) at 60 psi, a customer would use about 25,000 gallons. With this in mind it’s not hard to see how a dripping faucet can substantially increase your water usage.

A second factor is the meter estimation process. Our computer system estimates your water usage every other month by adding up the previous twelve months’ usage and dividing that total by twelve. This is a standard utility billing estimation method and is usually fairly accurate. However, if a customer had a month or two of exceptionally high usage in the past twelve months, that usage would be factored into the estimate causing a higher estimation than expected. Of course, the reverse is also true. If your estimation were too low, your next bill will reflect the usage we didn’t charge you for the previous month.

If your estimation happens to be on the high side, you will never end up paying for water you did not use. The following month, our staff will read your meter. If we estimated too high, you will receive a negative usage and be credited for the amount we charged you on your estimated bill.

Let’s look at your bill a little more closely to understand your charges.

The first charges you will see on your bill are Customer Charges. These charges are the monies that are allocated toward everything it takes to get your bill to you, including: administrative costs, bill cards, postage, meter reading, etc. For water this charge is $5.00 per month, and for sewer it is $9.00 per month.

The next charges are your Service/EDU Charges. These charges are the monies that are allocated to maintaining Evans City’s water and sewer systems, including: water and sewer lines and the infrastructure needed to get water to you and sewage away from you. They also include meter maintenance, repairs and replacements. A significant portion of your sewer service charge is allocated toward paying the debt service for Evan City’s new sewer plant. Your water service charge is $16.00 per month for in borough residents or $21.00 for residents living outside of the borough. The sewer service charge is $40.00 per month for all residential customers.

• The average shower uses about 18 gallons of water.  Taking one shower per day uses about 550 gallons of water per month.

• The average modern toilet uses about 2 gallons per flush. The average person flushes five times per day. That’s approximately 300 gallons per month per person.

• The average dishwasher uses about 6 gallons of water per cycle. If you wash one load per day that’s about 180 gallons per month.

• The average washing machine uses 40 gallons of water per load. So, two loads of laundry per week uses about 320 gallons of water.

The final category of regular monthly charges on your bill is usage charges.  

Water is billed at $5.35 per 1000 gallons up to 50,000 gallons, and $5.60 per 1000 gallons over 50,000 gallons. Sewer is billed at $7.75 per 1000 gallons up to 50,000 gallons, and $3.75 per 1000 gallons over 50,000 gallons.

Finally, since we bill in units of 1000 gallons, it is possible to have a bill with a zero usage or a lower usage than you actually used that month. For example, say you used 2,999 gallons during the month; your bill for that month would only include 2000 of those gallons. The 999 gallons won’t be charged until your next bill when the meter read flips over to the complete a 1000 gallon unit.

The following chart breaks down your water and sewer usage charges per 1000 gallons at a combined rate of $13.10:

0000- 999 -  $  0.00

1000-1999 - $13.10

2000-2999 - $26.20

3000-3999 - $39.30

4000-4999 - $52.40

5000-5999 - $65.50

6000-6999 - $78.60

And so on…

Now let’s look at some normal usage averages:

Using these averages as a guide, the average person then, uses approximately 1200 gallons of water per month. Multiply that number by the number of people in your household and you come up with a number for an average usage. Of course this doesn’t count other uses such as washing cars, cleaning floors, cooking, drinking etc.

An average ten minute car wash uses 100 gallons of water, and that’s some fast washing. Filling five gallon buckets for cleaning, leaving water running while brushing your teeth, rinsing dishes for the dishwasher, and other typical uses also contribute to high water bills.

Every family and household has different water habits. I live with my elderly father. We use an average of 5000 to 6000 gallons per month. We need to start being more careful! Of course we have two leaky faucets.

Some of our customers with a family of four only use 2000 gallons per month. A few customers, who are single and live alone, use 4000+ gallons per month. So, usage greatly varies from household to household. I hope this article has helped to answer the question of how it’s possible to use so much water.