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Water around Boston (in the MWRA) is expensive: the sewer bill is included and is paying for the Boston Harbor cleanup / Deer Island treatment plant: 7.58 Euros

Water around Boston (in the MWRA) is expensive: the sewer bill is included and is paying for the Boston Harbor cleanup / Deer Island treatment plant: 7.58 Euros per 1000 liters. This is converted from $513.54 for 2629 CU. FT. from my last quarterly bill. Basically one year of water+sewer in a two-family house with all water saving features is higher than the monthly rental rate for a two-bedroom apartment. One more factoid: the pH of the water is 9.3: http://www.belmont-ma.gov/dpw-water-division/faq/what-is-the-ph-of-belmont%E2%80%99s-drinking-water http://www.belmont-ma.gov/dpw-water-division/faq/what-is-the... I'm sure this is to protect us from lead, but it makes the water gross.

aftbit 11y ago
That's a good point - I also completely excluded sewer prices, which are actually considerably higher than water prices. Warning: no data, just intuition, in the rest of this comment. I'm a bit confused by that, actually, since California is in a significant drought and there is a lot of pressure to get people to cut back on washing their cars and watering their lawns. I would imagine that, in a residential setting, roughly 100% of water consumed for purposes besides the external use that we're trying to reduce then goes into the sewer. So why don't we just increase water prices and cut sewer prices equivalently? You'd expect the average consumer's bill to go up only in proportion with the amount of externally used water that they "waste". One potential complication might be for houses with septic tanks, but those are probably fairly uncommon in the area served by SFPUC. Perhaps, as a utility, they're constrained to charge relative to their actual cost in those areas. Edit: retric - thanks, that makes sense. I'm a renter here, so I don't pay a water bill (except indirectly via rent).
- Retric 11y ago
  Sewer is not tracked separately in most (all?) areas. It's just based off of water used.
  - knughit 11y ago
    Seattle tries to estimate sewer use by billing it based on extrapolation from winter water use (when lawn watering isn't happening)
    - _delirium 11y ago
      I've seen large homes in Texas that have two separate water hookups, each with their own meter. One goes to the indoor faucets and pays water+sewer, and one goes only to the outdoor faucets and pays only water.
oinksoft 11y ago
Lynn has its own water supply, and they switched us over to MWRA for a couple months during some maintenance work. The MWRA water has a funky taste, not a fan. http://www.lynnwatersewer.org/Images/LWSC-MWRA%20General%20Notification%20Website.pdf http://www.lynnwatersewer.org/Images/LWSC-MWRA%20General%20N...
pivo 11y ago
Huh, where do you live? I think Boston water is the best tasting water I've ever had. I'm in the South End.
- jhallenworld 11y ago
  Belmont: I think the MWRA water itself is OK, but then the local towns modify it. I remember Brookline water was even worse tasting somehow.

aftbit 11y ago

That's a good point - I also completely excluded sewer prices, which are actually considerably higher than water prices. Warning: no data, just intuition, in the rest of this comment. I'm a bit confused by that, actually, since California is in a significant drought and there is a lot of pressure to get people to cut back on washing their cars and watering their lawns. I would imagine that, in a residential setting, roughly 100% of water consumed for purposes besides the external use that we're trying to reduce then goes into the sewer. So why don't we just increase water prices and cut sewer prices equivalently? You'd expect the average consumer's bill to go up only in proportion with the amount of externally used water that they "waste". One potential complication might be for houses with septic tanks, but those are probably fairly uncommon in the area served by SFPUC. Perhaps, as a utility, they're constrained to charge relative to their actual cost in those areas. Edit: retric - thanks, that makes sense. I'm a renter here, so I don't pay a water bill (except indirectly via rent).

Retric 11y ago
Sewer is not tracked separately in most (all?) areas. It's just based off of water used.
- knughit 11y ago
  Seattle tries to estimate sewer use by billing it based on extrapolation from winter water use (when lawn watering isn't happening)
  - _delirium 11y ago
    I've seen large homes in Texas that have two separate water hookups, each with their own meter. One goes to the indoor faucets and pays water+sewer, and one goes only to the outdoor faucets and pays only water.

oinksoft 11y ago

Lynn has its own water supply, and they switched us over to MWRA for a couple months during some maintenance work. The MWRA water has a funky taste, not a fan. http://www.lynnwatersewer.org/Images/LWSC-MWRA%20General%20Notification%20Website.pdf http://www.lynnwatersewer.org/Images/LWSC-MWRA%20General%20N...

pivo 11y ago

Huh, where do you live? I think Boston water is the best tasting water I've ever had. I'm in the South End.

jhallenworld 11y ago
Belmont: I think the MWRA water itself is OK, but then the local towns modify it. I remember Brookline water was even worse tasting somehow.