# Township not billing us for sewer usage- what to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 6, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971 "2025-05-06T22:02:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/41 "2025-07-12T21:12:57Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The idea being that the increase in the summer is for things like watering your lawn/garden so it’s not using the (sanitary) sewer. Another possibility is that the decrease in winter usage is because the homeowners are vacationing in FL (or AZ). Why should they be subsidized? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/42 "2025-07-12T22:15:35Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Another possibility is that the decrease in winter usage is because the homeowners are vacationing in FL (or AZ). I don’t know. I didn’t make the rules, I just pay the bills. I Poking around online, I found one reference, in Ohio, that states that if you have no water usage for February OR March OR April (don’t know why they use those three months), you don’t qualify for “winter averaging” and, presumably, they just bill you for your actual usage. I’m assuming Milwaukee has some sort of minimum as well. From [Milwaukee](https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/WaterWorks/Customer-Service/MilwaukeeMunicipalServicesBillExplainedSuburbanRetailWaterRates_2.pdf): > The residential charge is based on the volume of water used by a property during the first quarter of the calendar year. This is called “winter usage.” If, in any of the three quarters remaining in the year, a property’s water use is less than the > winter usage amount, Milwaukee Water Works will calculate the charge for that quarter based on the actual water usage, or 21 Ccf. From [Ohio](https://www.nwwsd.org/customer-info/payment-billing-info/winter-averaging/): > An account with a zero read in any of the 3 months will not be eligible for winter average. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/43 "2025-07-12T22:41:43Z")
Time to get that neighbor to come in and water your plants occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/44 "2025-07-13T00:18:02Z")
Yes, this. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/45 "2025-07-14T11:30:19Z")
Reminds me of the slogan on a local trash hauler’s trucks: “Satisfaction guaranteed, or double your garbage back!” ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/46 "2025-07-14T11:32:52Z")
> [@abcdefghij](#): > > you really don’t want them returning any effluent you didn’t pay for Reminds me of the slogan on a local trash hauler’s trucks: “Satisfaction guaranteed, or double your garbage back!” ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971/47 "2025-07-14T21:48:40Z")
> [@vbob](#): > > “Satisfaction guaranteed, or double your garbage back!” Satisfaction guaranteed, or double your quote back! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/township-not-billing-us-for-sewer-usage-what-to-do/1017971.md?page=2)