Sewage bill tied to water usage. Drill my own well?

[Pennstater2005]

As my title states, my sewage bill is tied to my water bill. And, my local borough is basically telling me there is nothing I can do about it. I don't like paying for a service that isn't actually being rendered. I am being told by them and the water company that I do not have an option for a deduct meter. I'm thinking my only other, and I'm definitely crazy to consider it, is to drill my own well.

There are multiple places online that sell kits to drill your own well. I imagine it's much harder than some of these places make it out to be. I highly doubt it is allowed to drill in the borough but I don't care to discuss that

Any thoughts?

[Billybob]

My sewage bill doubled......I watered my lawn more than I thought. It was a hot, dry summer. I feel your pain

[Pennstater2005]

My sewage bill doubled......I watered my lawn more than I thought. It was a hot, dry summer. I feel your pain

Doesn't that bother you since the water on your lawn wasn't treated. I made that argument to the person in charge of the sewage authority and it fell on deaf ears. Her actual comment to me was " Why do you need to water your lawn?" A deduct meter was denied although I'm not done following through on that fully yet. My next option is to drill my own well.

http://drillyourownwell.com/index.htm

[HoosierLawnGnome]

search on here. I did this at my last place but we moved before I got a hand pump installed.

Check your well records. If you have a high static water level you might be able to hand dig your own.

and yeah it sucks that municipalities now monopolize water and then use it as a taxation system. Literally can't live without water so they own you. they are starting to expand it by taxing people based on how much area they have covered in buildings and concrete here the logic being the city is paying to channel their runoff. sounds fair at first but we still have lots of land owners and some farms in city limits. completely unfair to us as the city doesn't have any sewers here and we have enough land we absorb our runoff and much more. if the city is going to charge for runoff we contend we should be credited for absorbing what they would otherwise have to absorb. The truth is its another property tax on the wealthy.


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[Pennstater2005]

How do I check well records?

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[HoosierLawnGnome]

How do I check well records?

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Ah. You probably don't have a well. Silly me you're on city water.

Whoever government entity governs your well or water probably has an online record of wells. Find some close to your house and look for the static water level as well as what they're rated at gpm. In IN it is the DNR.

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[Pennstater2005]

^
Thanks for that. City water ends just a few houses down from us. I will ask.

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[rtomek]

The reliability of the city water system sure prevents a lot of frustration, I've heard a lot of stories about people needing their wells repaired. My city will install a second water meter for the irrigation line so that we don't have to pay the sewer charge, but even that is not cheap so I don't see it paying for itself unless you have a much larger lot than I do.


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[HoosierLawnGnome]

Or just hire someone to put in an irrigation well. They usually charge by depth, pump type.

It's a bit of rolling the dice as to what output you get so be careful who you hire and the Contract you sign.

BUT if you're going to spend an extra $800 a year to irrigate your lawn and going to be there for a while you can recuperate that money after several years.

Grundfos makes a very energy efficient pump. It's what I have for all my wells.

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[Darkshadow]

Pennstater,

Who is your water company? Before you start digging a well, you may want to go online and check to see how the sewer rate is being charged. You also should have received a copy of this when you opened your account. All of the water companies I have had charge sewer rate based on the water use of the previous winter to avoid the exact situation you're describing. I hope your water company is using this method as well. Also, you may want to find out if your water company is billing you on actual usage or estimated usage. If it is estimated, then you should be able to have them recalculate your winter rate and adjust your bill in your favor. Let us know what you find.

[Pennstater2005]

As in my title, the sewage bill is tied to the water usage. The water co. forwards the usage to the sewage company. The two bills are nearly identical. I know I used a lot of water. It's the fact that I am paying increased sewage bills for water that was not treated.

[Pennstater2005]

I've thought about an irrigation well but I'm thinking the borough probably doesn't allow that. I will look into it though. Otherwise, I'm still considering drilling my own. It looks very doable the more I research.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I talked to ou r city and basically as long as the well was a certain depth or less there was no problem with local codes as I recall.

In my case I knew from well records, the adjacent lakes water level, and my own experience with water levels rising above my basement and water seeping into post holes in my yard from the ground I had a decent chance of success.

I ended up hooking into city water as it was a better route for me but my plan was to convert that hand dug well into a hand pump for our square foot gardens.

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[Pennstater2005]

I talked to ou r city and basically as long as the well was a certain depth or less there was no problem with local codes as I recall.

In my case I knew from well records, the adjacent lakes water level, and my own experience with water levels rising above my basement and water seeping into post holes in my yard from the ground I had a decent chance of success.

I ended up hooking into city water as it was a better route for me but my plan was to convert that hand dug well into a hand pump for our square foot gardens.

[ Post made via Android ]

I'm afraid to talk to anyone from city council. In our small borough they're basically running everything. Without research, I'm assuming a hand dug well would not be enough for irrigation. I want something that I can use to wash cars, irrigate, water lots of perennials, etc.

[killerv]

Check your city ordinances, they may not allow wells within city limits. Ours doesn't. They should be able to offer you a second meter than does just your irrigation system minus the sewage fees. You'll receive two bills. I checked in on that once, was gonna be around $1500 to install a second meter.

[Pennstater2005]

As noted above no deduct meters allowed. I doubt I'll be able to drill, but I've got a hidden area on the property where I will self drill next year. It's my only option.

[ezael]

Is the water/sewer ran privately or from the borough? Look to see if you can sat at the next sewer department monthly meeting and put in a request to the sewer commissioners, they might be more understanding to your situation. A meter really only cost about 150$ and maybe about 30 mins of a plumbers time.

[Cirillo]

I'm in Adelaide, Australia. My last water bill was $259 (for the quarter) and only $51 of that was water usage. The rest was basically sewerage charges. Here each state controls their own water utilities

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Another option is hiring a well driller to bore a hole in the ground for you and finish it without installing a pump. It may not technically be considered a well at that point so they would be allowed to do it. Then you can run 220V line out to the site and install your own pump. They do make some 120v deep well pumps as well but there are a lot more options with 220.

I did this on a property I own to save money.

Anyways obviously lots of research about what you can and can't do there.

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[LoneRanger]

Hmm.. Aren't wells regulated here in the U.S. Don't they require certification for proper installation, so as not to contaminate the aquifer.