Tarkak9

.... my neck of the woods, we have a consolidated municipal bill consisting of trash, electricity, water, storm drainage and sewer. Gas is from the ol b'stard aka Xcel. tbh, never paid attn to individual breakdown, but the bill has been averaging $125/mo, which water is charged in tiers -
Monthly Service Fee: $4.90 (5/8” meter)
Volume Charge per 1,000 gallons:
0-5,000 gal: $2.40
5,001 – 15,000: $3.42
5,001 – 35,000: $4.20
Over 35,000: $5.88
I'm approximating that water has been running 30ish/mo ...

scrubbedexpat099

I think I will stick with the well.

scrubbedexpat091

Does your well over go dry in summer months?

It's an issue for some in these parts, and considering the amount of rain we get in a year, it's amazing we have the water issues we do in the summer..

We are not on a well, but kind of are since the city's water comes from what is basically a large well, haven't run dry yet in summer, but have gotten close a few times, if it goes dry, then they have to pump from the river, which isn't ideal as they can't treat the surface water well enough to drink, so would have to also have a boil advisory.

But people on smaller wells not served by the city's, do run dry for a bit at times in the summer....

petitefrancaise

Here in Austin it is metered and tiered.

City of Austin Water - Residential
Customer Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14.00
Tiered Fixed Charge 11,001 - 20,000 Gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$23.75
2,000 Gallons at $2.93 per 1,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5.86
4,000 Gallons at $4.49 per 1,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17.96
5,000 Gallons at $7.29 per 1,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $36.45
3,000 Gallons at $11.03 per 1,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $33.09
14,000 Gallons at $0.19 per 1,000 - Reserve Fund Surcharge . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.66

my bill goes from $130 a month (family of 5) up to $350 in the summer, thanks to pool and irrigation system. Changing irrigation to drip feed should help a lot next summer, as will replacing some water hungry (thirsty?) plants that were left by previous owners. Not sure what to do about the pool since evaporation is the cause of water loss there.

However, just checked my latest bill and water usage was only small, Most of it is other stuff as follows. Need to check out what a couple of these charges actually are.
Current Activity/Charges
Water Service $37.73
Wastewater Service $44.95
Clean Community Service $7.65
Solid Waste Services $25.22
Drainage Service $10.31
Street Service + $9.78
Current Balance $135.64

scrubbedexpat091

Switch to native type landscape and plants that can handle limited water, and ditch grass.

Austin get's a decent amount of rain on average per year, so there are plants you could use that would need limited amounts of additional water.

Plant water wise and you can really reduce or eliminate the need to water landscape.

thinbrit

We have never had a problem with either well running dry. The main well we use is only 88ft deep according to the drill log. The other well is deeper, but we are not sure by how much.
The story goes the original home builders hired a well drilling company and hit water at 88ft, the owners decided (for reasons unknown) to go deeper. Eventually the drill hit a pocket of water with a sulphur like smell and high sediment content. They decided to drill another well about 50 feet away, and stopped at 88 feet this time. This well feeds the house.
Both wells had pressure tanks and pumps connected when we bought the place, but the 'stinky' well outlet from the pressure tank only had a single spigot connected to it. We use the deep well for irrigation and the shallow well for the home. The shallow well is the best water we have had, including any fancy bottled waters.