[tuccillo]

You live in a part of The Villages that does not have separate meters for indoor water and irrigation water. The majority of your water is for irrigation. The bad news is you are paying sewage for irrigation water. The good news is the sewage charges appear to be capped at 10,000 gallons.

Originally Posted by MandoMan

How is water and sewer use measured by The Villages Community Development Districts? I’m asking not to complain, as I don’t think the cost is unreasonable, but because it confuses me. Below is a copy of my monthly bill. It says my water use was 12,480 gallons and my sewage use was also 12,480. On the left is a graph of my usage in the past year.

My house was unoccupied last year from May until the last week of October. I live alone. I take one five minute shower a day, turn off the water while brushing my teeth, and do two partial loads of wash per week. I have an automatic sprinkler system for my yard that I’ve never touched. I have a swimming pool that sometimes gets water added because of evaporation, but since January much less water has been added because I had an insulated pool cover installed. This seems to have made no difference in my water usage. I’m not sure why an unoccupied house uses more irrigation water some months than others when the controls haven’t been changed.

What about sewage? It looks like at least 90% of my water used either soaks into the sand beneath my grass or evaporates. It doesn’t use the sewers at all! I’ve been outside while the sprinklers run, and I’ve never seen any water running into a sewer. My personal water use is a brief shower, a few dishes, and a dozen or so toilet flushes, plus weekly wash. So how is my sewer use 12,480 gallons? I doubt that I add more than 1,500 gallons to the sewer in a month.

Is the charge for sewer use simply based on gallons of water used despite the fact that most doesn’t go into the sewer? Is there a meter that confirms that I have added 12,480 gallons of water to the sewer? (Of course there isn’t!) Do people with no lawn and only gravel have much lower water usage and so much lower sewer use charges, even though they may be adding just as much to the sewer as houses with lawns? Do houses with two or more occupants who are probably adding twice as much to the sewer system pay double? Would it be more appropriate for the cost for sewer to be divided equally according to occupants without claiming a sewer use that is certainly not supported by evidence?