Crazy high water bill

[bfirecat]

Hey everyone,

Figured I would ask on here.
We received our ebmud bill, and it was $3300 for a 2 month period.
That is about 340,000 gallons of water used.

I tried calling ebmud to have it disputed, they said they have already sent someone out to check the meter and its correct.
There's no leaks showing on the meter either....

Not sure what else to do about this, I guess its more of a rant.

 

[MolaMola]

Oy!
Do you happen to have a hard-plumbed RO system with auto shutoff?

 

[tankguy]

I don’t even know what to say to that. I would sh*t myself if that bill came to my house

 

[bfirecat]

No, just a manual RODI system.

Its pretty incredible.

 

[euod]

Just went through this myself.
My burned rate was 2000 gallons a day.
You need to figure out where 5000 gallons went a day by reviewing number of toilet leaks.
Also, need to see if you can sign up to monitor daily usage on app or website

 

[bfirecat]

We checked everything and had a plumber come out.
No leaks. We almost hit 5800 gallons a day.

The only thing we can think of might be the irrigation system. But 5800 gallons a day is absurd.

 

[Coral reefer]

Have them check their meter again and ideally replace it. Has to be a big leak or bad meter. More than 3 gal per minute can’t be anything but a big leak or bad meter that I can think of.

 

[bfirecat]

We checked the meter, it seems to be working normally now.
The leak detection triangle is not spinning and the needles only move when water is flowing.

The only leak would be the irrigation so having someone check that tomorrow.

This situation is pretty absurd.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Wow 5800 gallons a day is not normal. Definitely need to find the source of that leak. You'd think if you were leaking 5000+ gallons a day you'd have a huge soggy mess in your yard or something.

 

[max_nano]

Wow 5800 gallons a day is not normal. Definitely need to find the source of that leak. You'd think if you were leaking 5000+ gallons a day you'd have a huge soggy mess in your yard or something.

Yeah that's a huge amount of water each day, either the meter is reading wrong or there is a leak that goes straight into a drainage pipe. Is there a toliet that is just running non stop? Home Depot shows pretty high pump speeds for toliets...


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[bfirecat]

No leaks. We checked by turning off all the water from faucets, irrigation, etc.
No leaking toilets, or other things.

Fun times

 

[Flagg37]

Can that much water even pass through your water main? I think most mains are 1”. 1” pipe @60 psi is 47 gallons/min. Which equates to 67,680 gallons over 24 hours. So I suppose if your main was flowing unobstructed then it could produce those numbers with ease.

It’s strange that there would be a spike and then stop. If it was a leak then you wouldn’t be able to stop it (you said the needles on the meter only move when something is on).

What was your previous usage like? Typically it’s higher in the summer months.

 

[bfirecat]

Our usage ranges between $100-$300 depending on the season, with a $150ish average.

I think the leak might be on the irrigation system, since its on a timer.
After we turned it all off, the water has been relatively normal.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Such is the issue with billing every 2 months for "convenience" if the leak was caught the first month you'd be on the line for much less

 

[bfirecat]

The frustrating part is the bill came 3 weeks later than normal because they "sent a person out to verify the meter".
They didn't alert us that we were 10x over our normal use the past couple of months or anything of that sort.

I get that they legally aren't obliged to but it just feels unfair and stupid to me.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I'd definitely raise a major stink about it, possibly even talking to a lawyer (yeah that cost more money).

I remember way back in college a buddy who was in the same program as me said he was once house sitting for a few months for someone and did a lot of photograph work where he'd run a LOT of water, only in that case the water guys DID knock on the door and alert him to the abnormal water usage.

 

[bfirecat]

Well, we had a landscaper come in to check the irrigation today and found no leaks.
So now we are screwed since we can't fix whatever was causing the usage.

 

[MolaMola]

I think the leak might be on the irrigation system, since its on a timer.
After we turned it all off, the water has been relatively normal.

Your ordeal is awful!
Did they FIX the meter when someone came out to check it?
I really don't see how you (or a neighbor) would not notice that much water in the yard or street. So you are thinking irrigation may have gotten stuck on for awhile or was turning on frequently without being noticed? Is there a drain or sewer pipe near your irrigation lines? RO system wasn't left on for an extended time?

 

[bfirecat]

All EBMud did was send someone out to "verify that the meter reading was correct".
They said the meter was working fine, but if we want to pay $45, they can send someone out to check it out again.
However, if they find out the meter is working fine, we are liable for the bill.

I am not sure about the drain or sewer pipe, but even if our RO system was left on for a 2 weeks straight (which it definitely wasn't), it still wouldn't have produced that much water.
I just can't imagine no one noticing 5700 gallons of water continuously for 2 months.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah 330000 gallons is half the water that fills an olympic sized pool, you'd think if you had a leak of that much water you'd notice a huge wet soggy marshland in your backyard.