Water Bills... $%&$!!!

I thought I'd rag a bit here about our water bill. It used to be our cheapest utility bill, but now it's close to the highest friggin' bill we get. What used to be about a $45.00 bill four times a year, is now over $200.00 for the last bill we had, and that was before gardening season, so I hate to see what the next bill will be like.

What they're doing to us now, is charging us X amount of dollars for our water consumption, based on what our meters say, and then they charge us the same amount for sewer charges. Something to consider when you're filling a pool that holds about 4000 gallons! YIKES! The thing that really rots my butt about this, is the fact that they are charging us sewer charges based on the water consumption, yet not all the water that is coming out of our taps goes back into the sewer, so what's up with that? We water our flowers and garden. That doesn't go back into the sewer. We drink water. That doesn't go into the sewer... well, not initially anyway. Our pets drink water, and that helps water our lawn in little patches. Anyway, you get the point I'm trying to make here. I realize they have to charge us sewer fees, but I think they should be done differently. Why don't they meter the amount of waste that heads back to the sewers? Hell no, that would cost money to install meters, wouldn't it? Well now, who would be paying for those meters? Us, the taxpayers! But that's a whole other ball of wax, and another rag session!

I guess though, in the end it all comes down to the fact that they have us by the short and curlies, because you can't live without water. So we're doing our part to conserve, and our conservation is strictly financial. We have a couple rain barrels in our yard now, to aid in watering our flowers and garden. We don't water the lawn anymore. Whatever Mother Nature provides will have to suffice our poor lawn, that will be nicely brown and crispy by the end of the month no doubt. However, it will be green again come spring! If it's yellow, we leave it mellow, unless company is visiting of course. Nothing worse than having to flush a toilet before you even use it! We're making sure the dishwasher is filled to capacity before running a cycle, and the same for the washing machine. Our cars aren't getting washed as often as they once did. So we have to drive with a little bit of bird droppings on it. It's not the end of the world! But the worst of it all, in the hot humidity that we get here, is that we don't have one of those cool soft sided inflatable pools that you set up and take down after the season, although I really want one to cool off and float around in. Instead we head to the nearest swimming hole to cool down once in a while. But, I'm not giving up yet... I may just check into the cost of having a water truck come by with 4000 gallons to fill one up!

In the meantime, we'll keep doing what we're doing, and hope that the future water bills don't get too outrageous!

Olivia