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High water bills are usually inevitable during a long, hot summer. But some Columbia County home owners say they can''t figure out why their bills are higher than previous summers. For a man who''s started going above and beyond conserving water, Timothy Sebert says the numbers don''t add up. Only two people live here, me and my wife, said Sebert, 40,000 gallons of water. That''s from what I understand it''s enough to fill up a nice size swimming pool and I know for a fact that we''re not using that much water. He''s done his homework: checking for leaks, the water pressure, and replacing toilet valves. But, while his case may be unique, the county says high summer water bills are not. The Water Utility Director says if you do see a spike in your bill, or your usage, it could be something as simple as just trying to keep your grass green. He says even though, to many, it sees obvious, using the sprinklers takes a lot more water than you may think. Even at a couple of minutes once a day, that can add up fast. When the department sees an unusually high bill or a defective meter, they''ll often replace the meter. Sometimes that means the bill will go up, because, customers may have been using more than they thought. Sebert does not dispute the cost per gallon, but he does want answers. [And] a better way to create transparency between the county, the folks that do the billing and the residents, he said. Leaders say transparency is part of the plan moving forward. To achieve it, they want to replace all electronic meters with radio meters, giving neighbors an hour by hour breakdown on usage. Right now, 15,000 customers have the radio meters, but the Water Utility Director hopes have all 46,000 customers on it in the near future. |
