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echopiece
11/17/2015, 05:43 PM
I received this water notice in the mail today. Anybody else ever get one of these? Can't they tell I'm a reefer from the blue glow through my windows?? :idea:

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o344/mart_svt/Reef%20Savvy%20100%20Gallon%20Build/294BF00E-0A8E-44A2-AB8F-8AC836900474.jpg (http://s340.photobucket.com/user/mart_svt/media/Reef%20Savvy%20100%20Gallon%20Build/294BF00E-0A8E-44A2-AB8F-8AC836900474.jpg.html)

CStrickland
11/17/2015, 06:59 PM
I want to know what the average houses that don't have reef tanks are doing to get within 16 gpd of you!

seamonster124
11/17/2015, 07:06 PM
Frame it, post it above the tank

Reef Frog
11/17/2015, 07:08 PM
Holy smokes. Big brother really is watching you. But they did ask you nicely to register though. But I can here the echoes of that man in the leather trench coat saying "Your papers please".

I'm 100% for water conservation. Even mandatory restrictions during droughts or other emergencies. But it really ought to be looked at as a comparison against historic usage. I mean maybe you had some guests for two weeks. But asking for an X% reduction with some fair penalties for unexplainable non compliance and a fair appeals process seems quite reasonable.

But I can't imagine a 30 gallon aquarium spiking your usage to any large degree.

echopiece
11/17/2015, 07:38 PM
Holy smokes. Big brother really is watching you. But they did ask you nicely to register though. But I can here the echoes of that man in the leather trench coat saying "Your papers please".

I'm 100% for water conservation. Even mandatory restrictions during droughts or other emergencies. But it really ought to be looked at as a comparison against historic usage. I mean maybe you had some guests for two weeks. But asking for an X% reduction with some fair penalties for unexplainable non compliance and a fair appeals process seems quite reasonable.

But I can't imagine a 30 gallon aquarium spiking your usage to any large degree.
Very true. However, I did fill my new 100 gallon tank during that period so I had an additional 300-400 gallons of usage. We are typically very low water consumers in this house, minus my water change consumption. I just find it funny how they sent me a letter. My one little water usage spike set off the alarm bells.

JMorris271
11/17/2015, 08:27 PM
I got those from my power company all the time when I was running a koi pond using 3 15k GPH pumps.Usually every 6 months.

ruiny
11/17/2015, 08:37 PM
I topped up my swimming pool this spring from the hose. Took about 24 hours. A week later I got a letter from the city saying my water was running uninterrupted for a day and I may have a problem. They said I should check for water leaks or other problems in my home. And at the end reminded me that whatever it was I was still responsible for the bill.
So nice of them to care enough to send a letter a week after a pipe may have broke in my basement mostly to tell me I owe them a couple hundred bucks.

karimwassef
11/17/2015, 08:38 PM
you're within 12%. Is that even one standard deviation. Looking at the average is meaningless. I would write back demanding more detail. I need more data!!

CStrickland
11/17/2015, 10:21 PM
I wish my city would
We rent a unit out and we had some ... interesting folks in there for a while. They broke a thingy on the toilet but were too scared / lazy / high to tell us cause they were behind on rent at the time. A $4 part fixed it, but only after we got our water bill and figured out it had been running flat out for a month. We were lucky it wasn't worse b/c our bill is quarterly, but it was still a couple hundred iirc

Also, I like how ashamed the little water drop looks lol
Like his eyebrows and his red face

Member No. 1
11/18/2015, 04:22 AM
I have well water, but get the same from National Grid for electricity.

Mine usually states that my usage is 150% more than my "Energy Efficient" neighbors! But they do send me a card and box of chocolate on Christmas!

Bent
11/18/2015, 06:21 AM
:eyeroll: I would have some choice words for them.

Something along the lines of "go walk off a bridge" I pay for the service you don't give it to me for free.

You pay for the amount of water you use so what's the big deal? It all goes down the drain, back to the source (river etc.) gets sucked back up by the plant, treated and recirculated anyway.

Usage of water by man is not what's causing droughts and water shortages. All the water we use mostly ends up back to the source eventually by one method or another.

I'm all for conserving some water during dry periods, but if your going to ration a service which you are paying for, it needs offered at ration prices. I'm sure that will happen reeeeeal soon.

I'm so sick of these utility companies charging you a premium price for these services and giving you sub par service.

Our electric company keeps raising our prices under the guise that they are using the money to clear right of ways, and you can obviously see where brush and trees have overtaken aerial lines and covered poles. So what happens anytime someone farts sideways around here? A tree limb falls on the lines and knocks power out. So the power is out here more than anywhere else I've ever lived, and I pay more for electricity here than anywhere I've ever lived. And now that the coal fired plants are dropping production, and coal companies are dropping production for more expensive alternatives my bill is now even higher.

Hell the drinking water here was tainted by chemicals for a month (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Elk_River_chemical_spill) and I still had to fight for a refund for that month and my water bill gallon for gallon here is higher than its ever been at this point. These idiots still raised our prices after that fiasco.

And don't even get me started on the broadband companies....

/rant

RWEngineer
11/18/2015, 06:38 AM
I must be missing a second image.

e048
11/18/2015, 07:36 AM
I would send them back pictures of your tank :p

Bill Nye
11/18/2015, 07:44 AM
Paying for water is for suckers. Well water all the way.

eb2292
11/18/2015, 07:48 AM
Better than the neighbors calling the cops on you for a strange blue glow constantly coming from your house.. and having an officer show up at your door

sde1500
11/18/2015, 07:57 AM
Yup, well water for the win! But yea, like the others I get one for my electricity from National Grid. Small tank, so not much electric usage, was #1 out of top 100 in the area. Then I opened the pool.

figuerres
11/18/2015, 08:07 AM
Better than the neighbors calling the cops on you for a strange blue glow constantly coming from your house.. and having an officer show up at your door
LOL....

and no one ever seems to notice the grow houses that have no lights , open windows or doors but lots of fans......

gcantu
11/18/2015, 08:10 AM
Interesting, I received a similar notice for the month of September. Our water company said that I used 32,000 gallons within the month. I have no swimming pool in my back yard so I guess it must have been my 8 gallon tank using up all that water.

echopiece
11/18/2015, 08:13 AM
Paying for water is for suckers. Well water all the way.

Bill, are you using solar panels to power your well pump?

gone fishin
11/18/2015, 08:17 AM
I am on a well and my neighbor operates a dairy farm. I doubt the power company even notices me.

karimwassef
11/18/2015, 08:20 AM
Well... I am in favor of conservation. The true cost of water consumption isn't represented by the bill. And if there is a sudden change, I'd like to know.

I think the sad water drop is what got me. Little judgemental

outy
11/18/2015, 11:32 AM
its just a score not a warning.

karimwassef
11/18/2015, 12:26 PM
Score = ranking. Ranking = judging.

ucdcrew
11/18/2015, 11:03 PM
Our water company was all up in my grill this year. Our bills kept getting higher, despite conservation measures. We had a plumber out multiple times - replaced all toilet flappers, checked all fixtures, no leaks anywhere.

They kept swearing we were using the water reflected on the bill, we kept swearing we were not. We had them put a logging meter on to help us identify when the water was being used. Our useage immediately dropped to about half of what other similar households were using.

They actually ADMITTED to a faulty meter and refunded our fines. Was expecting them just to fade back into the background and refuse to talk to us.

Reef Frog
11/19/2015, 02:05 AM
UCDCREW:

So your fines were refunded. What about the money you paid for the water they wasted due to their incompetence? Did you get a refund there too?

Wouldn't it be nice if citizens could fine the government for their incompetence and misdeeds? In an ideal world these fines would be paid by the leaders and employees.

JMorris271
11/19/2015, 09:28 AM
A real bi##h is living in cities where the sewage bill based on your water consumption.

soulpatch
11/19/2015, 10:16 AM
A real bi##h is living in cities where the sewage bill based on your water consumption.

Been fighting this fight every couple years where I live. I have to rally the local forces up against this as people dont get it whenever it comes up. Thankfully been able to hold it off for now though it has been getting more and more difficult.

ucdcrew
11/19/2015, 11:35 AM
We're on a flat fee + overage system here. They refunded all the overages we had as well.

I am a government employee (federal). I would be more than happy to pay for my own REAL mistakes. The problem would not be you and me, however. There a not-so-small subset of the general population that is of the 'something for nothing' mindset which would gum up the system and make it impossible for people with real claims to get through. There is also a subset of government employees that are unwilling to be accountable for their own actions, yet it takes YEARS to get someone terminated. Have to jump through 1.1 million hoops. HR sides with the poor performers rather than the supervisors IME.

ruiny
11/19/2015, 04:18 PM
My city charges 117% of my water bill for sewage. As in $1.17 sewage fir every dollar of water supply. Plus more for the fire hydrant.
Really ****es you off if your watering the lawn.

homer1475
11/19/2015, 04:56 PM
I've gotten a letter from the water company for 115% more usage then my neighbors(I live in a tourist town and all my neighbors are summer residents who have 0 usage in the winter!!), gotten a letter from National Greed because my electricity went up 45% over last year, and a letter from the town officials that my sewage charge would be going up due to my water usage.

Luckily I live in a small town and had the head of the DPW over to my house(who is a friend) and showed him my tank. The sewage bill will be taken care of, and will be a normal quarterly bill. He actually took pics to the town supervisor to show them all my intake isn't going back into the town sewers as waste.

Makes me wonder if I could charge National Grid for the gas I use in my generator when my power is out? Which happens at least a couple hours every month around here, and more frequently in the winter.

ucdcrew
11/19/2015, 09:17 PM
LOL - I read "National Guard" instead of "National Greed." I was thinking - they don't mess around with indoor grows in NY!