Price of water in the City of San Diego

[Sabal Steve]

My consumption history.

Bill history. $138.55 (bi-monthly) average over a 2 year billing cycle.

Base rate for meter. I have a 3/4" meter.

The rates to the right are effective currently.

Rates per Hundred cubic foot. One hundred cubic feet = 748 galllons.

A detailed breakdown of my consumption for the last cycle.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Sabal Steve

[Sabal Steve]

Currently, provided my usage remains with in the same cost tier, my water supplied only represents 24.4% of my bi-monthly water bill. My lot is 1/20 of an acre.

As a rough estimate, my house takes up about 30% of my property, maybe a little more. Of that, I probably have 500 - 700 feet of planting space.

But how about a 1500 square foot house on an acre? That comes out to 1500 / 43560 = 0.0344352617 of space without a structure.

I'm not judging anyone, but if you're spending hundreds of dollars on a water bill, you're using a lot of water.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Sabal Steve

[SailorBold]

Hey we use roughly the same amount of water. I am billed monthly and my bill is still over a hundred.

I don't want to look at it at the moment otherwise I would compare it in detail.

[Sabal Steve]

It would be interesting to see how other municipalities stack up. I've always thought that the actual water that we got down here was pretty cheap, with most of the cost going to service fees.

Another interesting note is that I paid $63.40 in sewer related fees, even though much of the water usage was for my palms, and soaked directly into the ground - not the sewer. Sewer related fees represented 0.409693053 of my total bill.

[Sabal Steve]

Currently, provided my usage remains with in the same cost tier, my water supplied only represents 24.4% of my bi-monthly water bill. My lot is 1/20 of an acre.

As a rough estimate, my house takes up about 30% of my property, maybe a little more. Of that, I probably have 500 - 700 feet of planting space.

But how about a 1500 square foot house on an acre? That comes out to 1500 / 43560 = 0.0344352617 of space without a structure.

I'm not judging anyone, but if you're spending hundreds of dollars on a water bill, you're using a lot of water.

Correction:

My water usage accounts for 0.346171244% of my bill.

My service fees for the incoming 3/4" line account for 0.244135703% of my bill.

[Sabal Steve]

I made a quick graph online.

Easy to use site, took a screenshot of the graph.

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx

[Sabal Steve]

Hey we use roughly the same amount of water. I am billed monthly and my bill is still over a hundred.

I don't want to look at it at the moment otherwise I would compare it in detail.

For clarification, I was speaking in terms of San Diego, and our rates in speaking of usage vs. rate.

But, I'm definitely interested on how rates stack up across the country.

Where does your water come from primarily? The Rio Grande, or the "Rio Sand" as it was called affectionately by the La Times?

Here's an interesting article about the water issue in NM.

"New Mexico is the driest of the dry"

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-76921741/

Edited September 14, 2014 by Sabal Steve

[SailorBold]

The city of Albuquerque has switched to river water pumped in from the Chama and San Juan rivers. For decades the city used its underground aquifer.. and to relieve its depletion they built this pipeline. I don't know too much about it but I live in a suberb that still pumps the aquifer.. so despite my proximity to the city my water is still 'fossil water' as they term it, water from monsoons and thousands of years of a river running through it. In the time before ABQ moved to the pipeline-project the underground aquifer dropped by 60 feet, and in the past 3 years has risen back 8 feet from what I read. I suspect this is partly from Rio Sand recharging it!

The geology is fascinating in the area.. as the city is built in a huge rift valley filled with sediment and decomposing granite. The sediment from the Rio..and partly granitic fan the closer you are to the Sandia Mountains East of city proper.. create this basin for the aquifer. It is a HUGE TEAR in the earths crust and the reason why there is fissure volcanism and magma in the area. When I say huge..its huge and it is extremely deep. If all of the sediment was removed from its formation the elevation of Albuquerque would drop 15,000 feet and we would be 10,000 feet below sea-level. So the rest is sediment.. contains (still) vast amounts of water. I live on the west-side of town.. and a few years ago they drilled to study how much was available over 'here'.. mind you the rift is huge. they calculated there would be enough water to supply a city of 300,000 for 100 years. Most likely more than you wanted to know.. but I understand San Diego is working on sustainability as well.. with the water plant they are building to harvest sea-water. Interesting stuff.. but expensive also from a tax-payer point of view. Geesh.

Yup the drought continues.. however..it is a desert area... far from green acres either way. Growth has been incredible.. the suberb Im in has grown to 90-100,000 people in 40 years. Relative.

I have sewer rates also.. calculated on 3 months of winter use- I suspect this removes your issue.. as I bet the thinking behind it is for that.. sewer versus landscape irrigation. So if I do not use water for those three months in winter.. this rate will be low. Its a sand-box where I am... and when I water it surely goes right back into that aquifer. Winter or summer.

I suspect my palms are deficient in just about everything including silica of all things!... so I am in a battle with careful study and learning along the way... to utilize the water best I can.

[Sabal Steve]

Thanks;that geology is interesting. I had no idea that Albuquerque was sitting on all that sediment and DG. I didn't realize that it had water retention properties. Sounds like you're in a pretty good part of the state, respectively.

[SailorBold]

Steve.. Are you Las Cruces Steve?

[Sabal Steve]

Que?

[SailorBold]

Never mind I thought you might have been another person