$1500 water bill in Florida

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BrokenArmBrewing

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Messages
263
Reaction score
18
Location
spring hill
So holy sh*t, I get my water bill in today and the wife is nor happy.

You see we latest new sod in the front yard, and had been watering the **** out it so it would survive. Well after 30 days of watering 3 zones for a total of 3 1/2 hours a day, I het hit with a 1500.00 bill. Yup, the decimal is in the right spot!

Wow...Wtf am I gonna do... I do take donations.

Wish me luck, we're talking to the water company on Monday..

Brewing has been put on hold for a long while :(
 
Who told you to water everyday, let alone 3 1/2 hours everyday? Even if it's sandy Florida, that's way, way too much.
 
Doesn't it rain in FL every damn day in spring anyways? It seemed that was the case for the 18 years I lived there. lol
 
3.5 x 30 = 105 hours or 6300 minutes of wide open water, probably at 12 GPM. 75,600 gallons. Around here we pay half a penny per gallon. 75,600 x .005 = $378. I wonder if you have an overuse penalty of some kind like if you go over 10,000 gallons in a month, it goes up to 5 cents a gallon or something like that. Run your garden hose wide open into a bottling bucket and time how long it take to get to 5 gallons. My guess of 12GPM could be low.
 
Wow that is crazy. Yeah whoever told you to water it that much should pay for it. And if your sod isn't growing its probably because you watered it too much.

My sprinklers go off Monday-Saturday for 10 minutes each zone (3 zones). It should be 3 days a week but I am too lazy to go change it and I don't pay the bill so I am not in a hurry. (Its included in my rent)

Good luck with whatever you do!
 
Well the sod looks GREAT! And when I looked at the bill and did some math its correct.

We were getting charged 12 dollars per 1000 gallons. The flow rate on the heads adds up with the time run plus average monthly usage.

As for rain...well ...when we layed the sod it didn't rain all the month following. Just gettin.g into the rainy season now. As for the advise, o heard from at least a half a dozen people the you have to soak the crappy out of new sod.

All on all, the project cost us a grand more than I figured. God listens to all prayers...hopefully I'm deemed worthy ...

All will pass, and the silver lining is my grass look GREAT! Have a beer and look at it!
 
mcarb said:
So you used over 100,000 gallons of water? Are you insane?

Insane, no...victim of bad information, yes. Total usage recorded from the meter was 156,000.

I'm a billionair, so, who cares :(
 
Wow! That kinda sucks. I'm in the armpit of Texas, just about 1/2 west of downtown Houston, and I wonder if I watered that much if I'd have a swampy, mosquito breeding pond in my yard. Did you ever have a bunch of standing water on the sidewalks or driveway?

I know you said 3 zones for about just over an hour per zone, but I'm surprised it didn't grow to a foot high in that month!

What kind of grass are we talking about? My St Agustine has never looked better and I' m pissed about my $93 water bill last month :(
 
I've got a home in Srping Hill and will likely be in the need of new sod myself. I'd be very appreciative for some insight on your experience. Please feel free to PM.
 
I think my cumulative water bills over my entire life are less than $1,500...ouch.

Speaking of Texas, maybe don't bring up "I put 150k gallons of water on my lawn" when talking to a Texas rancher (droughts and all)

Bet the lawn looks fantastic though.
 
jestmaty said:
Wow! That kinda sucks. I'm in the armpit of Texas, just about 1/2 west of downtown Houston, and I wonder if I watered that much if I'd have a swampy, mosquito breeding pond in my yard. Did you ever have a bunch of standing water on the sidewalks or driveway?

I know you said 3 zones for about just over an hour per zone, but I'm surprised it didn't grow to a foot high in that month!

What kind of grass are we talking about? My St Agustine has never looked better and I' m pissed about my $93 water bill last month :(

No standing water, some puddling at the bottom of the driveway, but I figured that was just the slight over spray.

Sand soil, I probably soaked the sand 5 feet down. My biggest mistake was not trying to to calculate how many inches per hour I was dumping
 
To each their own, but I really don't get the lawn thing. I'm in the camp of, if nature won't support it, it probably doesn't belong. Green lawns in the desert SW really puzzle me when water is such a precious commodity in the west.

But hey, if you're willing to pay for it...
 
I agree that grass in the desert is stupid, but my HOA insists. Just got a violation notice (with photo) because apparently there's a couple of weeds in my lawn. They drive around taking pics and if the grass is brown, they send a notice.
 
I agree that grass in the desert is stupid, but my HOA insists. Just got a violation notice (with photo) because apparently there's a couple of weeds in my lawn. They drive around taking pics and if the grass is brown, they send a notice.

Do you tell them to fix it? Can you spray paint it green? Tell them to make it rain more often or they can help with the bill.
 
GrantH said:
Do you tell them to fix it? Can you spray paint it green? Tell them to make it rain more often or they can help with the bill.

I like the spray paint idea! We, at Lowes sell fake grass, but its unbelievably expensive. Hasnt caught on. There was a lady last year in Tampa who install 10,000 worth on her property in an hoa area and they forced her legally to remove and replace with real grass...she was pissed!
 
Well, I've seen spray paint grass and it looks pretty good actually. We had the hottest summer on record last year and some folks resorted to the paint. :)

As far as the lady installing fake grass, I'll always check the HOA nazi policy before I shell out THAT kind of dough. It seems that her front yard would look the best of the entire neighborhood, but to be told to pull it up/out and put real grass....

I'd be po'd about the cost of the fake stuff AND having to sod again with 'real' grass.

Always read the HOA's rules when it comes to altering your home's exterior....

Did I miss the pic of your $1500 water job? My lawn looks ok after the last 2 year's drought, but I only buy about $40 worth of St. Augustine sod patches and throw em down where it's thin....

IMG_1025.jpg
 
In my village, the water and the sewer bill are together. If we need to fill a pool or water new sod, we can call the village and they will adjust the bill for the water only so you don't have to pay the sewer since the water isn't going down the drain. Maybe that can save you a few hundred bucks,
 
I'll hey some pics up, my mobile app sucks and crashed when I try to upload photos.

No sewer to worry about! Thank God. It's not as lush and thick as St Augustine because its Bahaia..
 
Here they charge you basically for sewer on every gallon of water you draw (sewer costs 3x water). They also have a form that you can fill out that allows you fill your pool once a year and pay no sewer. You should see if they have something like that in your area. Even if you don't have a pool, you didn't put that water back into the treatment facilities.
 
Doesn't most of Florida have watering days? Wait until you get the citation for watering on the off days.

I think that 1/2 to 1 hr a day would have been plenty. But that is past.

I sodded my lawn here in Rhode Island a few years ago. That month my water bill soared from $20 to $60. And yes the decimal points are in the right place.
 
kh54s10 said:
Doesn't most of Florida have watering days? Wait until you get the citation for watering on the off days.

I think that 1/2 to 1 hr a day would have been plenty. But that is past.

I sodded my lawn here in Rhode Island a few years ago. That month my water bill soared from $20 to $60. And yes the decimal points are in the right place.

Rhode island huh! Where at...I moved out of Cumberland to come to Florida...We have strict watering days, bit with new sod, your allowed 30 days straight. I think ill use my tears for the next few weeks to water! Hope they arn't too salty! Lol

Oh by the way, I cut it this morning!
If I can't beat them join them
 
Update...so now that the sod has taken I've set the timer to water each zone 15 minutes for 3 zones. Timer was set this morning to start at 5 and run its cycle. Should be some no later than 6...well 8:45 and I had to do a manual shut off....

Calling rain bird in Thursday. This is becoming absurd...I can only imagine how long they were really running for 30 days straight......
 
True. I have never lived in a neighborhood with HOA. And I never plan on it. I have heard some horror stories.

I can't wait to move back to HOA. My neighbor decided it was necessary to have two fishing boats parked in his side yard, One boat was stacked on top of the other.
 
Out here in Dallas we're at stage 3 water restrictions. You get to water once a week on a certain day and get hit with huge fines if you violate. however were are provisions for new trees, sod, and hydroseedings.
Its pretty nuts. The "water police" drive around looking for violators.
 
Special Hops said:
Make them pay your water bill

Short of getting lawyers, and proof of burden would lie on my shoulders that the timer malfunction...cost as much as the bill...

What ever. It's only money, and I can't take it with me when I die ... I don't have that kind if money to just throw around, but wollowing in self pity doesn't cure anything either..

Now I just laugh and roll around on the grass! :D
 
Back
Top