Riddle me this

[superj]

Some cities went to the electric meters that lock when you shut them off and require a city employee to turn them back on, and a fee. You can tell that city saw a way to screw its residents. I was worried corpus was going to do that when they swapped to the new meters but luckily they try and do stuff as cheap as possible so we can still turn ours off and on.

 

[MaicoDoug]

"It doesn't matter that they have systems in place for heat, water, septic, and electric, they aren't hooked into the grid. So, the living conditions are deemed "dangerous to life and health". ".........don't forget about the all must have the monopoly that is the digital sphere. The county & city mandate that the kids must have access to the internet maintaining the concurrent manifestation of trumping our ongoing authority in our always present efforts to wright what the public education hand wringers & bedwetters are doing to pollute our children's minds. More free stuff no thank you very much.

All the water meters around here have a shutoff valve. Takes a special wrench, but you can do that yourself if one can get creative. Our water company constantly has line breaks and always files for a "variance" with our state agency (TCEQ) so they don't have to make a report or issue the order to boil water. Such a "mom & pop" utility. They will charge you to shut off your water & then charge you to turn it on again with the "mandatory" site inspection which is another 50 bucks. Most new construction has a shutoff valve up by the front service entrance. Welcome to the mommy state, texas.

 

[Rick W]

When they redid the utilities in the street a couple years ago, they upgraded the water meter to one of the electronic ones that has the round vinyl disc on the top, about 3 inches in diameter. But I’m not aware that they can read that as they just drive by. The meter reader guy has a three or 4 foot long, electronic wand, kind of looks like a metal detector without the head on the bottom, and he just puts it close to that disc or on that disc and it will electronically identify the property as well as tell him all the water info.

My electric meter has been smart for about 15 years, I think it uses cell phone technology to call in the reading. Of course there was no cut in my bill when they saved the money of the guy coming out every month. I think my gas meter may also be smart, I haven’t seen the gas meter guy in years and years.

Back to the water meter, you could file a concern/complaint that you’re not sure the meter is reading properly, which would flag them if nobody’s reading it at all, but be careful what you wish for. If you’re only paying a few dollars a month, I think you’re far better off staying off the radar.

 

[superj]

Oh yeah, they changed our gas meters to wireless too. I only see the gas guy when the deal stops reading and then they fine you saying your plants corroded it and thats why it stopped, to much moisture.

I fixed that crap and cut everything around those meters. Its like a desert there now.

I had the gas shut off to the house we knocked down. They turned it off and put a bullet lock in the valve ear so it cant be opened but a few week later all i could smell was gas when i was 15 or so feet from the meters. I called and called and they never sent anyone so i got some dish soap in a spray bottle and sure as heck, their meter was leaking like crazy. I took it apart snd replaced an o-ring and fixed the leak and still havent seen or heard from the city gas department.

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I used to see where people would put a T in front of the water meter and another behind it so they just went around it. The city is pretty slick about that stuff now though so my brother said its not common anymore. I dont do plumbing inspections since 2003 but he is a master plumber so sometimes we talk about things we saw back in the day, down in the rio grande valley of texas when we both did inspections down there for insurance claims

 

[Snatchsquatch]

I'm glad I live like a hermit up in the mountains. I haul my own water, solar power, wood heat.
I don't miss all of the nonsense of living in town one bit.

 

[SenorNoob]

I'm out in the county. No city sewer. I hear that "about doubles the bill". My bill is usually ~$32 a month with me and Brittney. When I had the mobile out back with 3-4 people living in it the bill was usually $70. City actually came out to see if was stealing water after they moved.

IDK why the bill goes up so fast when filling a pool. Seems like it wouldn't be that much more usage. Supposedly my usage is roughly 3000 gallon per month (also questionable, but IDK) for the $32 bill. That would mean the pool needs 27000 gallon to fill? I get 6700 gallons for a 18ft round 3.5 ft deep pool. Maybe there is a point where the rate goes up significantly?

 

[97RangerXLT]

I am on Septic and Well here in Anderson, so basically the cost of running the well pump. garbage is 75 a quarter. If Anderson ever decides to run city water out here, I would (and most of my neighbors also) vehemently decline and vote against that. the City of Anderson has all sorts of issues with water quality right now and even though my well water smells like sulfur, it is clear. I am concerned about PFAS and VOC's in the water, as Anderson has 23 EPA Superfund sites and one on the NPL (national Priority list) one of those sites is a mile and a half from my house. I have tested my well for heavy metals and e coli bacteria, and it is fine, but the PFAS and VOC's testing requirements will cost me over 300 bucks for testing, and at that point, I am a third of the way into a reverse osmosis water filter, so..

AJ

 

[Jazzer]

Every time I kayak from Chesterfield down to Noblesville I have to go through Anderson, Indiana’s effluent contribution to the White River.

Brown sludge, big organic gas bubbles, hideous stench. They certainly don’t follow clean water discharge standards.

Anderson had automotive industries that got away with a lot of chemical dumping, both in the river and at their plants.

Water tables were polluted and the river got a lining of heavy metals. It took a bad deliberate chemical dumping by Guide Corp. prior to it’s closure that caused a massive fish kill to get the issue out into public awareness. The river is getting healthier, but the aquifers are still suspect. PCB’s and other nasty shit.

 

[JoshT]

I am on Septic and Well here in Anderson, so basically the cost of running the well pump. garbage is 75 a quarter. If Anderson ever decides to run city water out here, I would (and most of my neighbors also) vehemently decline and vote against that.

Pretty much in the same boat here. Couldn't tell what the garbage fee is, it's wrapped into the county property tax bill and that is paid through escrow on my mortgage payment. There also used to be $25 a hydrant fee on there even though there aren;t any hydrants within at least 10 miles. They eventually got the hydrant fee dropped, but of course there was no refund of past payments and not worth trying to chase it.

There has been talk about the county running municipal water. I've had a couple of survey forms taped to my door asking for information to apply for grants. Considering that I'd have to pay for a stamp, or drive 30 miles out of my way to return it to the county complex, I haven't bothered returning it. My demographics wouldn't help them with their survey numbers anyway.

I'n not going to actively resist county water. It would be nice to have fire hydrants in the area, even though the place would still burn down before the volunteer FD could arrive. If they do run it, I may have them put in a meter assuming that there is no monthly service charge, but I'm not connecting the house to it straight away.

 

[superj]

There is a military dump from the 50s-70s down the road from me. They use plants around the perimeter to measure how much it leaks. Its leaking towards the ocean, so away from my house and the site is down water from me so i dont have to worry about chemicals coming my way but the navy can't shut the base by my house because of the site. They said its a super fund site too

 

[19Walt93]

My well is 455' deep and cost $8000 in 1988- that was 1/2 the price of a new Bronco at the time. They hit ledge at 8'(welcome to NH) and it was still pulling up gray dust at 400'. I maintain the water softener, keep salt in it and change the filters every few months because I'm still getting sediment from the well. In 2018 installed a radon bubbler and drinking water filters to remove the uranium and lead we'd been drinking since 1988. I personaly installed it, the unit and materials cost me about $6000.
My septic system was also $8000 in 1988 because granite doesn't perk test well so I have a huge leech field. The tank was replaced 2 years ago after salt from the water softener started eating the concrete. That was $5800.
Trash disposal is included in my property taxes, I just have to bring it to the transfer station. We have no sort recycling available but some knobheads refuse to do it, which baffles me. The town pays to truck and dispose of trash- we sell the recycling. Maybe they think their taxes are too low.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I like being on a well but my property is close to a creek and the house is a couple hundred feet from the leech field which is up hill a bit so there's a pump and when the ground is really saturated the level alarm goes off a lot but hasn't been a problem yet... with 2 people we have two 1000 gallon tanks underground and the washer doesn't even drain to it so just two sinks, one shower, one toilet and a dishwasher... My well is supposedly 100' deep but when I pulled the pump a couple years ago to replace it (sand took out the impeller, not bad at around $700 for everything to do it myself) it was only about 80' deep. For $600 I also replaced the softener shortly after since sand took out the purge valves. After 10 years I have less sand than I did at first so it should last longer now. In my system I have a long sock filter first then a standard 10" cartridge then the softener then another 10" cartridge, too much silt to use good filters so just use pleated for now, summer time I can use the better ones in the second one...

I'm glad I'm not on city water in some ways, it's a racket in some areas... others it's super cheap...

 

[JohnnyO]

Call the water company and ask. Like @superj my water company used to send me an estimated bill and do an actual meter reading once a year and do a reconciliation.
Last few years I've had a electronic meter and they can read it from outside the house.