If water conservation is the goal, do you know how to read your water bill?
In today’s lesson, Tommy Linstroth, founder of RehydrateUS.org, helps demystify the water bills from the City of Atlanta. Linstroth is consulting with American Standard on a water efficiency test for two Georgia neighborhoods.
Most bills have a fee for water use and sewer use, both of which are based on how much water comes through the meter at your house. Utilities typically assume that the same amount of water coming into your house (your water bill) is the same amount leaving in the sewer (your sewer bill). Thus the two fees are directly related.
Water is often billed in a unit of hundreds of cubic feet, shown as CCF. One CCF (or hundred cubic feet) = 748 gallons of water.
Unfortunately, by measuring in such large units, there’s not that sense of satisfaction Americans are used to in seeing numbers going down, such as reducing a grocery bill with coupons or losing weight.
And with water so inexpensive, there isn’t even the fun of seeing significant cost savings, similar to the dramatic change that homeowners see when upgrading to higher efficiency heating and cooling equipment. Use this water savings calculator to see how much you can save with your local water rates.
The good news is that if you lower your home water consumption, you’ll lower not only your water bill but also your sewer bill, and likely your electric bill. Less water coming into your house, less going into the sewer – everybody wins. Learn more and take the water efficiency pledge at RehydrateUS.org.
