Why is my water bill so high?
An unusually high water bill is caused by a leak or a change in water use. Some common causes of high-water bills are:
➢A leaking toilet, or a toilet that continues to run after being flushed
- The most common type of leak is a deteriorated and/or defective flush valve (flapper) ball- If the flapper does not make a tight seal with the bottom of the tank, water will leak into the toilet bowl, which may or may not be detectable upon casual observation. Check your toilet by using these steps:
- Take the lid off the tank behind the bowl, flush the toilet and wait for it to refill.
- Put a few drops of food coloring in the tank – wait 1 – 3 hours depending on the potential leak (smaller leaks would take longer for the color to reach the bowl).
- If there is color in the toilet bowl, you have a leak.
- The second most common type of leak is an improperly adjusted or broken fill (ballcock) valve. You can check this by taking the lid off of the toilet tank, flushing, and seeing if the water is draining into the overflow tubes when the tank is full or if the ballcock is getting “stuck”.
➢ A broken water pipe or a leak in the water heater
➢ A dripping faucet or an open outside spigot
➢ Filling or topping off a swimming pool
➢ Watering the lawn, new grass, trees, or flowers
➢ Water-cooled air conditioners or furnace humidifiers
➢ A water softener that cycles continuously
➢ Running the water continuously to avoid freezing water pipes in cold weather
➢ A “catch-up” bill – when you are billed for previously used but unbilled water after it is discovered that your outside reading device was not reflecting the full usage recorded on the inside water meter.
USING YOUR WATER WISELY
The best way to prevent a high-water bill is to track your own use. Once a week, write down your water meter reading. The quicker you can identify a problem, the quicker you can get it fixed and avoid a high bill.