I think I am a relatively good steward of water. So when I received my latest bill showing that I used 78,000 gallons in 30 days my jaw hit the floor and ricocheted back.
My wife and I (no kids) have lived in a single family home in Arizona since March of this year. The lot is about 6,000 sq ft. We have typical Arizona desert landscape in front. The back yard has an in ground pool that holds 10,500 gal. On both sides of it are small patches of lawn.
Our normal usage is 3,000 gal/month. I am nuts about landscape maintenance so I would know right away if a sprinkler or drip head was broken. The pool PH has not had any significant change so I think I can rule out any leaks. Besides, that amount of water would have filled the pool 7 times over. And if that where the case it should be a marsh around the pool right?
I read the water meter and it agrees with the bill. I called the water company and told them that I think the meter is broken. They seemed to think that 78k gal of water was not that unusual? WTF! not unusual. From last night to this morning the meter shows 2k gal usage. Shouldn’t I see some kind of erosion somewhere if I used 2,000 gallons overnight?
Well yes, as you used 26x your normal, you either have a faulty meter or a leak. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the pool, and if it’s far enough underground there won’t be any visible sign of it, it’s just flowing into the water table.
Even in sandy soil that much water won’t sink into the ground without leaving any evidence. Sorry I can’t give you out water usage, we live in a townhouse in Phoenix and out water is paid by the association.
Excluding the two major non-domestic usages you have defined (swimming pool and lawn watering), your normal domestic water usage for you and your wife should be approximately 100-200 gallons per day. You are averaging 2600 gallons per day according to your bill which is a continuous loss of almost 2 gpm (gallons per minute).
Another response mentions a leaky toilet but you should be able to hear any household fixture that was leaking (or losing) that much water.
Some questions regarding your lawn irrigation system:
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[li]How long are you watering your lawn each day?[/li][li]Do you have an timed irrigation system with control valves and if so how many zones and/or valves?[/li][li]Have you inspected the areas around the connections into your irrigation system?[/li][/ul]
Regarding the pool:
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[li]How would you know by the pH whether or not you are losing water? What is the pH of your raw water and are you using chemicals to control pH? If yes, what chemicals, how much, and how often?[/li][li]Do you have a continuous filter operating on the pool water and if so, have you inspected the piping and fittings?[/li][li]Do you have access (through crawl space or whatever) to the piping into and out of the pool?[/li][li]Could the pool itself have a leak? How is water lost to evaporation, etc made up in the pool system (is it automatic)? [/li][/ul]
In most communities you can request a check of the system. I had a much smaller leak but the water department guy came out and used a more sensitive flow meter (as opposed to a volume or propeller type meter which doesn’t necessarily give very accurate measurements at low flow) on my water line and was able to detect a low flow leak that I ended up tracing to a bathroom toilet. In my case the leak was perhaps about 0.1 gpm but that equates to ~4,300 gallons per month.
You have helped me out once before. As I have come to expect from you, all very good questions :). 100-200 gal/day? I have to think the meter was wrong reading when it was showing 3k gal month usage. 100gal * 30 days = 3,000. I don’t know how but these things work but maybe it has erred the other way?
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[li]How long are you watering your lawn each day?[/li]Lawn - 7 minutes each day / Drippers – 30 minutes each day / Bubblers – 4 minutes each day
[li]Do you have an timed irrigation system with control valves and if so how many zones and/or valves?[/li]4 zones and 4 valves
[li]Have you inspected the areas around the connections into your irrigation system?[/li]I have 3 irrigation boxes (I think that is what they are called) with valves in them. Box #1 has 2 valves 1 for the drip system and the other for 3 bubblers. The other 2 boxes have corresponding valves for each patch of lawn and it respective sprinklers. I opened all 3 boxes and they are dry. I ran each 1 manually through a complete cycle and felt around the pipes for water. FWIW, the sprinkler heads don’t appear to have any loss in pressure.
[/ul]
Regarding the pool:
[ul]
[li]How would you know by the pH whether or not you are losing water? What is the pH of your raw water and are you using chemicals to control pH? If yes, what chemicals, how much, and how often?[/li]Actually I have tested the water in the house. The chlorine in it is lower than my test kit can read. I chlorinate with 2 – 3” tablets once a week. Cl 2 is ppm the pH is 7.5 and I usually add 16 ounces of acid once a month and only if needed.
[li]Do you have a continuous filter operating on the pool water and if so, have you inspected the piping and fittings?[/li]Yes 5 hours a night. I did an inspection today. I did find a small leak. About a drip every 5 seconds.
[li]Do you have access (through crawl space or whatever) to the piping into and out of the pool?[/li]Its all in the ground .
[li]Could the pool itself have a leak? How is water lost to evaporation, etc made up in the pool system (is it automatic)?[/li]* Yes it is automatic. I shut it off 2 days ago to see if there was any noticeable change in the water level to which there wasn’t. The pools owners manual states: “fill a bucket with water and put it next to the pool. Note its level and the pools. They should evaporate at about the same rate.” I didn’t see any major change. *
[/ul]
It’s looking more and more like a bad meter, you think?
My family doesn’t use that much water and I have a family of 6 and a pool about the same size as yours. It really does sound like a meter problem though. From one bill to the next you get a huge jump in the amount of water being used?!? Your toilets would have to be always filling. Talk about a Hollywood shower!
Grrrr, I thought I posted a reply, but it must have gone off into never, neverland. Or, cyber, cyberland
To answer your Q, we live in the NE Valley, and have drip irrigation. Use it for one hour, 3 times a week in summer and 2 times in winter, just for trees and shrubs, not cacti. Have it set so it goes on around 5 A.M. to save evaporation. Also have a garden pond/waterfall that loses some due to evaporation. There are just two adults on our home.
We average about 10-12,000 gallons/month in winter and about 14-15,000 gallons/month in summer.
Once last year our monthly bill was huge. Checked for leaks and found none, so called water company and they replaced the meter, and that solved the problem.
It’s always possible to have a leak in irrigation or in the underground pipe from the meter to the house. One thing to do is shut off all water, then go look at your meter to see if there is any movement in the dial.
Thanks Jon and Klondike,I turned everyting off. This meter has a small red triangle on it that is supposed to spin when even the smallest amount of water passes through it. It doesn’t budge when everything is off. I too water in the early hours (4:00am). I cut everything in half except domestic use. I read the meter yesterday at noon and again today at noon. I have supposedly used 590 gallons. That’s 17,700gal/month. Now that seems reasonable. The water company came out and said that they believe the meter is functioning normally. I should have known it was going to turn into one of those, I took the car to the mechanic and they cannot find a problem things. In any event the water company told me I have the right to be a witness at the warehouse when they test the meter. So I’ll do that in two weeks and see what happens…
So I take it they removed the meter so they can test it? 78,000 gallons of water is a lot of water to not know where it went. Are you sure you didn’t have some help losing the water by your neighbors? I really can’t fathom using that much water in a month.
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