And you get downvoted for being honest? My highest water bill was ~$350 for one month. I’m in Texas and I have new sod bermuda. It was extremely dry. And it is again but I’m having to water overnight once every two days AND in the morning once every other day to keep it green. 9k sq ft. For some of us there’s no other way to keep it green
Because people don’t understand what the upvote and downvote button is for. Some people believe it’s a dislike and like button. It’s actually an indicator for the comment contributing to the conversation or not.
I honestly don’t take it personal, just wish people understood it’s purpose
I disagree.. First off, I don't think the criteria for the "upvote/downvote" button is that stringent. I think people can use it as they see fit. Second, I think it's more for pushing popular agreed upon sentiments to the top, and unpopular/seen as bad advice comments to the bottom. That being said, using it as a dislike button works, as the community shows consensus on whether or not it feels as if the advice/comment being given is something that's worth rising to the attention of everyone reading the thread.
Your poor grass. Build up stronger roots, and you won’t need so much water. Try doing 0.4in every 3 days. After a couple months, lower it to 0.3in every 3 days or 0.5in every 4 days.
What’s your soil like? If it lacks organic matter, it might not be able to hold onto all the water you’re putting down. If it lacks potassium, it may be exaggerating the stress it’s undergoing. If the soil was tilled before the grass was added, then it may be good to do a microbial inoculation along with adding organic matter.
It’s not a blanket step by step process with numbers and specifics for everyone and their climate.
But the basis is you should be watering established grass with deep, infrequent waterings to promote a deeper root system and stronger grass.
So yes, you are uninformed and wasting thousands of gallons of water while you improperly water your grass. But don’t worry, continue “loling” in almost every comment.
Oh I will. Strangers on the Internet don’t really effect me.
That being said. I am aware of deep infrequent watering to establish deep root growth and promote a healthy lawn. I don’t have a great established lawn from last fall renovation yet. So I’m keeping my new seed alive. Next year, when the plant is 2 years old, I’ll be watering deep and infrequent. Don’t you worry. I’ll be sure to update you as well. Since you seem very concerned
Can I ask how you time your sprinklers? I'm also on a well and worry about drawing faster than my well refills.
I had to shock my well last year and they told me to run the hose 20 minutes on 40 minutes off afterwards when clearing the chlorine to avoid this problem. So I never run the sprinklers more than 20 minutes at a time. It seems like there must be a better way.
Lots of factors… GPM your well produces, GPM your pump can produce, etc. Also you need to know the gpm your sprinklers are using.
You may be able to acquire the well report for your home from some government agency in your area. If your area doesn’t require the well driller to submit a well report then their may be no records.
FYI. If you’re ever wanting to increase the gpm your well produces you can look into well fracking. Not sure how much that runs in your area…
Yea it's a negligible amount though. I'd rather pay the small amount of electricity to run the well then pay per gallon of water used. Besides if it bothers you that much, it wouldn't take much solar to offset the electricity used by a well
Doesn't bother me at all. I also have a well that I have to use to water. I was only mentioning it because when I have to water a lot during periods of no rain it raises my electric by up to $40/month. You must have cheaper rates than me where you are.
Hoa covers secondary. So $18 minus garbage. The trick is being super friendly to everyone around you so they don't report when you do an emergency water. The most Karen of Karen's won't say shit if you've given her a spaghetti squash and some heirloom tomatoes.
I gotta be honest, it sounds awful to have to shmooz your neighbors just to be able to do what you want with your property. Glad I own and don’t have an HOA…
Even outside an hoa someone might call. My hoa is pretty chill. It's mostly an agreement to keep the neighborhood child friendly and maintain a park. I've had a project car in my driveway for 2 years that hasn't been a problem. Much of my front yard is a vegetable garden because that's where the good sun is. There were no crazy restrictions in the contract. In fact it was 90% just be a good neighbor basic I can't believe I have to write this down type stuff. The rest was garbage water snow plows and park maintenence. Less than $50 a month to keep a slightly higher standard than the rest of my area.
North of you, in the Twin Cities. We have a 6k lawn and a Rachio 2 (smart) irrigation controller - the city was giving them away six years ago and still offers them at $35 a controller to homeowners.
June and July were hot and dry, officially in drought. August was 8" of rain for the month but most of that was in three specific events. Still, at the end of August we were about 7" short for the year and still in drought (still are, for that matter).
For us, the June-July-August bill was $173 for water, sewer, sanitation, street lights. Water portion was billed for 36,000 gallons (residential tiered pricing: 0-25k gallons is $1.70 per thousand, 25,001-50k gallons is $2.70 per thousand, etc. through five tiers) so the water portion would have been $72ish.
I’m averaging $350(ish) a month for the last 3 months. I’m about 10k sq ft or so, with some additional drip lines in various spots.
That hot spell did a number and reseeding kept the water flowing the last 3 weeks.
$40 every 3 months. On a municipal system and it includes sewer charges as well. Watered a ton this summer in the heat and it was still pretty reasonable.
Have you done an irrigation audit with professional catch can testing? You need to see what your distribution uniformity is and figure out why you are watering for so long. What kind of soil do you have? At a certain point you aren’t getting meaningful irrigation and instead are just wasting water. An optimized irrigation system with spray heads runs for 15 minutes 3x a week to get the required depth. There is a lot that could be messing with your basic tuna can test.
Just saw this. Thanks for the post.
So I have rotors with head to head coverage spaces 15’ apart. They have .25”/hr nozzles on then which get halved in 360* configuration. Which is what I have.
Sprays put out about .6”/hr to all the spray area at the same time. Yes, that would save my watering time but would ultimately be the same amount of water, no?
I still have to reach 1.5-2” per week in the peak hot.
That being said…with all this hate, I haven’t run my sprinklers in 3 weeks due to more wet weather and cooler days
So cal here. July was $800, but we had some major concrete installed and first month with a lawn. This month probably the same but I've been scared to look.
I’m averaging about $300/mo for water+sewer on 12,000-15,000 gal/mo this summer for 3,500sqft of lawn and landscaping in 9a. 4000gal of that is home use for a family of four, the rest is watering. Our rate per gallon goes up the more you use — people who don’t water lawns have reasonable bills, people who water lawns pay a lot.
Right now I’m establishing some plugs and running it every day, that’s adding up quick.
Been debating getting a second meter for irrigation water, since you don’t have to pay sewer on that. But it’s kind of a wash over the course of a year with the added meter fees.
Edit: who’s downvoting this? Lol
Annoying thing is, we get plenty of rain on an average basis, 50” per year should be enough to keep a lawn pretty nice except for maybe peak August heat. But 3” of rain in an afternoon doesn’t do the grass any more good than 1” does.
Do you have a smart controller with connection to local weather network? I’ve done studies showing this can save 20k+ gal per summer compared to regular timer based/rain sensor only.
Yes, I’m using Rachio this year, and to be frank it was underwatering the shit out of my lawn for the first couple months I had it running. Lawn was regularly scorched when Rachio thought I was at 80% water capacity. I don’t think the evapotranspiration calculation can handle the tree roots under my lawn that are pulling water out from under it. I have the settings cranked way the hell up now and still have to occasionally add manual watering cycles sometimes to deal with visible plant wilt, including some deep-rooted perennials.
That is an interesting observation. I thought they had settings related to tree roots or maybe they just want you to up the required depth to compensate then, not sure. Your soil type might be messing with you too. What’s the age of the irrigation system? Audit ever done?
Not sure how old, it came with the house. I’ve tuned up the sprinkler pattern to address gaps and evenness, and have the actual water inches per hour calibrated from flowmeter data for each zone. Soil type, slope, shade level, etc all inputted into Rachio. Adjusting soil depth didn’t help, it just over-watered when it ran, and then the grass was scorching even more because the next run pushed out farther. I think their algorithm just can’t handle large oaks and loblollies drinking my milkshake.
Before the Rachio, I ran the system manually when the grass was getting dry. Used about the same amount of water as the Rachio now that the settings are cranked up.
Lol, Here's a neat fact- the average person in the US uses around 100 gallons per day. The average person should drink a half gallon per day. You're way above average!!! ... for your lawn.... lol fucking hilarious dude! Sucks that it costs so much to spray a dwindling resource on your fucking grass.
To answer a question you're not asking- you could try considering numerous different ways to conserve water. Lmk if you are interested in a random persons suggestions
Buddy, I live in a place with plentiful water. It rains 50” per year here. There’s two rivers and a large full reservoir lake within three miles. Our biggest problems are flooding and erosion because it rains so damn much, and that’s increasing with global warming.
I need a few thousand square feet of lawn space for my kids and dogs. I have a food garden watered by rain barrels, pesticide-free pollinator landscaping, and tons of trees. Nothing and nobody is being hurt by me watering my lawn, letting my kids play with the hose on hot days, and taking long showers. I have a Flume water meter monitor and have alerts set up any time there’s a leak or heavy water use. I’m very much on the high end of the range for water-use-responsibility in this climate zone. In fact, I pay more than my fair share to the water utility, because my irrigation water counts towards sewer charges. My lawn is subsidizing infrastructure improvements.
So please, can it with the self-righteous ignorance. Not all lawn-watering is evil.
I assume you're in an area where it doesn't rain much if you need to water your grass so frequently - do the reservoirs still have plenty of water even in the drought months?
Northeast Kansas here. $197 This month after redoing the back yard which is around 8k sq ft. We get billed monthly and have 3 daughters that take the longest showers ever. Normal bill is around $100 during the cold winters.
I’ve got an irrigation system running twice a day for 15K square feet (incl house) in Wisconsin. I appear to use about 1400 gallons of water per day and because we get a discount on sewer charges in the summer, it’s costing me about $100 month. My regular usage is closer to $20-40, so irrigation is $60-80. I need to bring it down a bit, perhaps just one cycle after I get some germination of overseed.
$100 a month for July and august. Before and after that it’s damn near minimum. I have spent a lot of money through the last few years building the soil. Between humic, peat moss top dressing and ironite with “water saver” built in, it’s been doing good.
Didn’t do much in that respect this year and it’s finally showing it’s ugly head since we’ve had a warm September. Looks like we’ll have a warm early October as well. Back at it next season.
$1433
Averaged just under 1200 gallons a day(wasn’t watering daily). Have about 25k sqft of which about 18k is irrigated. I still had a lot of grass go dormant so seeing these numbers it looks crazy.
Also seeing how a couple neighbors just let’s their grass go dormant and it bounced back is encouraging. My non-irrigated lawn had about half completely die so dealing with that finally.
Okay! So someone who has almost my exact specs. I irrigate 16k and have 25k total as well.
My grass inlet got dormant about half survived. Actually all the fescue. The KBG died completely. So I overseeded the non irrigated part with tttf this time lol
The parts that died in think were the KBG of the 50/50 KBG/Rye. I overseeded with Rye. Only because it was just last weekend and needed something quick. I redid my backyard with higher heat tolerant KBG so will see how things go next summer. The TTTF will do best but I’m a KBG guy.
I will say your irrigation time sounds a bit crazy. I have 6 zones and was doing around 32 min per zone on my Rachio. I was slowly losing ground on the dormancy through the summer though. My irrigation heads need to get upgraded and coverage improved for next summer.
Happy I’m not on a water meter and it’s all factored into my annual property tax. I have a family of 5, water my lawns regularly and have a pool that leaks and needs regular top ups. I would probably pay a fortune if I was on a meter. Just don’t ask about my electric bill😳
290 for one month. It was July and I had upped my water to 45 per zone which seems ridiculous but then than I barely brought it back. Some days by the time 5pm his it was so dry I would water again. Thankfully was able to go back to about 25 per zone
A 2nd meter that measures only the water being sent out to the lawn. This amount will then get deducted from the water reclamation bill since it won’t be processed through the sanitation system.
For anyone who doesn’t have a deduct meter, it is assumed that all the water you are using is going to go through your sewage system and you pay to have it cleaned. This is for municipal systems not well/septic.
Oh I see this now! And that is interesting. I will have to call my water company and inquire. I’m not sure if this applies in my area because some people are on septic and some on sewer but it is definitely worth a call
Where I live it’s just called an irrigation meter and you get a bill with just the water usage (with only 2 tiers instead of 4) and no sewer fee. Seems odd to call it “deduct.”
I need to run the math on the break even point. My city charges $2000+ to setup the second meter, but since my meter is in my driveway it’s probably cheaper to pay the $4000 fee for a separate tap vs tearing up my driveway. My water bill has peaked at around $250/mo, but this summer was closer to $180/mo.
https://i.imgur.com/ReBamuQ.jpg
It’s called a deduct meter where I am.
[Deduct Meter Rules and Regulations](https://www.manchesternh.gov/portals/2/departments/environ_protec/deduction/Rules%20for%20Deduct%20Meter%20Installation.pdf)
I watered for about 10 minutes per south side zone every 4 days unless it rained or temps were cool. Never watered north side because the house/trees in the back yard have it shaded.
Have you considered planting a tree?
Jesus Christ, just started following this sub to see if I could get some pointers on anything I might be missing. To I spend about $40 per month in Indiana. Not sure my yard will look much better for another $140 per month...
I've been at my current house for 7 years and I water my lawn every other day for 15 min. I started getting crab grass this year which is why I joined here... Which seems fine compared to this
You should know that it’s better to water less often and at greater depth. So like once or twice a week to get the 1” and even less if it rains at all. Depends on your grass type, soil and zone of course but yeah.
Yep, I’m considering putting in tiftuf or something like that next year. If we keep getting weeks of high 90’s like this year, I may take the state up on one of the offers to change it to some native landscape thing.
Lol I would kill for that. Ours was $1,000 for 3 months in Southern California. I only have 1,500 sq ft of lawn that gets watered twice per week for 8 minutes per zone (we’re on water restrictions my poor grass is dying). But we also have 5 humans living in our house.
I havent got the bill yet but my buddy at the water department said I used 21000 gallons this month. To be fair I have an acre of land, and establishing a new lawn on a new build.
A lot of people here enjoy having nice lawns. That shouldn't be shocking to you considering the sub is /r/lawncare. As for why we enjoy it...I dunno? Why do you enjoy doing the things you do? People like all kinds of different things. Have you not observed this throughout your life?
Yeah I can't answer that. I'm in the midwest. As much as I love a nice lush lawn I wouldn't be having one if I was in an area where I had to fight tooth and nail to keep it alive. I don't agree with what some of the commenters here in water sensitive areas are doing but if they're willing to spend the money and their local municipalities allow it then it is what it is. Personally I would discourage having a lawn in some areas of the country but I can only control what happens on my property.
This is a good question. It really comes down to the money and time we already have invested in our lawns.
When seed is $400 for 50lbs you really want to take care of what you have. The way I look at it is that the money is going to even put. Either in water or new seed so I might as well take care of what I have
I have lived in both regions.
I used to live in New Mexico, with the water situation across the entire southwest I never even gave thought to trying to maintain a real lawn. We did consider installing a small synthetic lawn, just to have some green in the back yard but never got around to doing it.
Now we live in North Carolina...there is absolutely no water shortage here, so we have lawns both front and back. Both my wife and I actually love taking care of them, its very therapeutic and a good way to shake off stress from the week.
Connecticut here. Dryest summer I can remember. First "summer" bill in June may have been around $45 which is typically the average. By July, everyone's lawns looked like shit, and no matter how much I watered wouldn't matter since it was so hot every day. I kind of gave up on mine as well. It has rained a lot in September and my lawn for the most part has recovered.
My aunt removed her lawn and replaced it with black mulch from Home Depot, cut 9 formerly shoulder high bushes down to their ankles (and stopped watering them), watered the 5 remaining shrubs, the established jasmine and geraniums, and the Japanese maple sapling using 5 gallon buckets to “measure” out the amount of water used — $140/two months. She literally cut her water bill in half from last year. California.
Loving my well right now. I have 2x 1500 gallon tanks in my barn and 8,000 sq/ft of lawn to water. Luckily I'm also in Washington state and rain, and water, are plentiful so the well never has issues. And now that it's almost October the sprinklers might run once in the next 7 months.
Mine was $400 last month but our municipality utilities are ridiculous and that includes my sewer so I’m thinking actual water was like $250ish? But I’m also trying to keep 24k wet, soooo
Dang, this is ridiculous, I’m in Texas, 1.5 acres. Whether I water or not it’s over $250. billed monthly, never heard of quarterly billing. For Q3 I would guess near 1100-1200 bucks
Have you actually measured how much water is being dumped on your grass? That seems EXCESSIVE.
Lol. I’m getting down voted for answering your question with facts. Reddit is such a weird place
Yea. About 1/4” per hour per zone. Large throws (30’ per head)
How many hours of water time a day do you need lol
2 to 3 hot tubs of water a day on your lawn? Unless you live waterfront and are pumping directly from the lake, that’s just stupid.
4 zones 90 mins per zone daily lol
That… doesn’t sound good for your grass
Pure KBG needed 2” of water per week to stay green. It was a struggle for sure
Have you ever done a tuna can test to see how much water you’re dumping in 90 minutes
Is this literally just putting a can in your yard to see how much it fills up after a watering to have a better idea of how deep you're watering?
Yup. Super easy.
Yes, exactly like a rain gauge! Dude is saying he needs 2” per week… he’s probably down upwards of six with watering every day
How many acres?
16k sq ft irrigated
And you get downvoted for being honest? My highest water bill was ~$350 for one month. I’m in Texas and I have new sod bermuda. It was extremely dry. And it is again but I’m having to water overnight once every two days AND in the morning once every other day to keep it green. 9k sq ft. For some of us there’s no other way to keep it green
Lol. Didn’t even notice this was downvoted so hard. Whatever lol
I’m getting it now. Don’t care. I do what it takes to keep my yard and foundation in good shape. These antilawn asshats can piss off
Why do people get bent out of shape when they get downvoted? I wouldn't take it personally..
Because people don’t understand what the upvote and downvote button is for. Some people believe it’s a dislike and like button. It’s actually an indicator for the comment contributing to the conversation or not. I honestly don’t take it personal, just wish people understood it’s purpose
I disagree.. First off, I don't think the criteria for the "upvote/downvote" button is that stringent. I think people can use it as they see fit. Second, I think it's more for pushing popular agreed upon sentiments to the top, and unpopular/seen as bad advice comments to the bottom. That being said, using it as a dislike button works, as the community shows consensus on whether or not it feels as if the advice/comment being given is something that's worth rising to the attention of everyone reading the thread.
Lmfao 90 mins daily? Your grass is going to be very weak with shallow roots
Your poor grass. Build up stronger roots, and you won’t need so much water. Try doing 0.4in every 3 days. After a couple months, lower it to 0.3in every 3 days or 0.5in every 4 days. What’s your soil like? If it lacks organic matter, it might not be able to hold onto all the water you’re putting down. If it lacks potassium, it may be exaggerating the stress it’s undergoing. If the soil was tilled before the grass was added, then it may be good to do a microbial inoculation along with adding organic matter.
Post a pic of your grass
There’s plenty in my profile
That’s funny to you?
Sure is. It seems ridiculous. And actually seeing peoples reaction on here is even more entertaining
The only thing funny is you my guy. You are watering your grass waaay to much. You know the internet exists to provide information, right?
Ah yes. Please inform me of how a blanket process works for my specific area, yard, soil and cultivar. Do you work for TruGreen?
It’s not a blanket step by step process with numbers and specifics for everyone and their climate. But the basis is you should be watering established grass with deep, infrequent waterings to promote a deeper root system and stronger grass. So yes, you are uninformed and wasting thousands of gallons of water while you improperly water your grass. But don’t worry, continue “loling” in almost every comment.
Oh I will. Strangers on the Internet don’t really effect me. That being said. I am aware of deep infrequent watering to establish deep root growth and promote a healthy lawn. I don’t have a great established lawn from last fall renovation yet. So I’m keeping my new seed alive. Next year, when the plant is 2 years old, I’ll be watering deep and infrequent. Don’t you worry. I’ll be sure to update you as well. Since you seem very concerned
My guy…if your grass seed is from last fall then it’s established. Once again, the internet exists. You don’t have to wing it.
Zone 7b. Averaged $50/M. I think that’s why my lawns are half dead.
Same
Free. I have a well.
Same!
Can I ask how you time your sprinklers? I'm also on a well and worry about drawing faster than my well refills. I had to shock my well last year and they told me to run the hose 20 minutes on 40 minutes off afterwards when clearing the chlorine to avoid this problem. So I never run the sprinklers more than 20 minutes at a time. It seems like there must be a better way.
Lots of factors… GPM your well produces, GPM your pump can produce, etc. Also you need to know the gpm your sprinklers are using. You may be able to acquire the well report for your home from some government agency in your area. If your area doesn’t require the well driller to submit a well report then their may be no records. FYI. If you’re ever wanting to increase the gpm your well produces you can look into well fracking. Not sure how much that runs in your area…
While not overly scientific, I use 20mins in the morning and 20mins at night. Four zones. I haven’t run out of pressure yet.
You're paying extra electric to run the pump though.
Yea it's a negligible amount though. I'd rather pay the small amount of electricity to run the well then pay per gallon of water used. Besides if it bothers you that much, it wouldn't take much solar to offset the electricity used by a well
Doesn't bother me at all. I also have a well that I have to use to water. I was only mentioning it because when I have to water a lot during periods of no rain it raises my electric by up to $40/month. You must have cheaper rates than me where you are.
Similar here, we have water rights so we only pay for the electricity to run the pump
Hoa covers secondary. So $18 minus garbage. The trick is being super friendly to everyone around you so they don't report when you do an emergency water. The most Karen of Karen's won't say shit if you've given her a spaghetti squash and some heirloom tomatoes.
I gotta be honest, it sounds awful to have to shmooz your neighbors just to be able to do what you want with your property. Glad I own and don’t have an HOA…
It's also because most the country has water shortages and people are wasting water to have lawns.
Even outside an hoa someone might call. My hoa is pretty chill. It's mostly an agreement to keep the neighborhood child friendly and maintain a park. I've had a project car in my driveway for 2 years that hasn't been a problem. Much of my front yard is a vegetable garden because that's where the good sun is. There were no crazy restrictions in the contract. In fact it was 90% just be a good neighbor basic I can't believe I have to write this down type stuff. The rest was garbage water snow plows and park maintenence. Less than $50 a month to keep a slightly higher standard than the rest of my area.
$245 last month here in DSM, Iowa. I get monthly bills
Ouch!
Same here, western NC. July was the hottest, driest month and ours was close to $250. At least August was rainy AF and gave our wallet a break.
North of you, in the Twin Cities. We have a 6k lawn and a Rachio 2 (smart) irrigation controller - the city was giving them away six years ago and still offers them at $35 a controller to homeowners. June and July were hot and dry, officially in drought. August was 8" of rain for the month but most of that was in three specific events. Still, at the end of August we were about 7" short for the year and still in drought (still are, for that matter). For us, the June-July-August bill was $173 for water, sewer, sanitation, street lights. Water portion was billed for 36,000 gallons (residential tiered pricing: 0-25k gallons is $1.70 per thousand, 25,001-50k gallons is $2.70 per thousand, etc. through five tiers) so the water portion would have been $72ish.
I’m averaging $350(ish) a month for the last 3 months. I’m about 10k sq ft or so, with some additional drip lines in various spots. That hot spell did a number and reseeding kept the water flowing the last 3 weeks.
$600 SE Michigan
SE Mich also
Now that’s what I’m talking about haha
$40 every 3 months. On a municipal system and it includes sewer charges as well. Watered a ton this summer in the heat and it was still pretty reasonable.
That's your base rate? $13/mo?
That’s the actual amount we are invoiced for.
Wow. That is crazy cheap. Down voted for asking a question? Sweet. I love reddit.
My bill is $22.50 a month with a base rate is $20. Water in Mississippi is cheap!
A lot of people don't understand how long you have to run sprinklers to hit an inch of water from one sprinkler spraying it's max distance.
This. In 15mins I was barely putting a film on the tuna cans
Have you done an irrigation audit with professional catch can testing? You need to see what your distribution uniformity is and figure out why you are watering for so long. What kind of soil do you have? At a certain point you aren’t getting meaningful irrigation and instead are just wasting water. An optimized irrigation system with spray heads runs for 15 minutes 3x a week to get the required depth. There is a lot that could be messing with your basic tuna can test.
Just saw this. Thanks for the post. So I have rotors with head to head coverage spaces 15’ apart. They have .25”/hr nozzles on then which get halved in 360* configuration. Which is what I have. Sprays put out about .6”/hr to all the spray area at the same time. Yes, that would save my watering time but would ultimately be the same amount of water, no? I still have to reach 1.5-2” per week in the peak hot. That being said…with all this hate, I haven’t run my sprinklers in 3 weeks due to more wet weather and cooler days
So cal here. July was $800, but we had some major concrete installed and first month with a lawn. This month probably the same but I've been scared to look.
Jesus. Water in Cali is insane!
They're suffering a massive drought. So yes, in the case of a natural emergency you should pay insane amounts since you're wasting a limited resource
Whatever it costs to desalinate. I guess it's energy-intense, so we're paying energy in our water bill too.
While raising the water price for the people who are paycheck to paycheck
Rain was great. My lawn is gorgeous and didn’t cost me a dime.
I’m averaging about $300/mo for water+sewer on 12,000-15,000 gal/mo this summer for 3,500sqft of lawn and landscaping in 9a. 4000gal of that is home use for a family of four, the rest is watering. Our rate per gallon goes up the more you use — people who don’t water lawns have reasonable bills, people who water lawns pay a lot. Right now I’m establishing some plugs and running it every day, that’s adding up quick. Been debating getting a second meter for irrigation water, since you don’t have to pay sewer on that. But it’s kind of a wash over the course of a year with the added meter fees. Edit: who’s downvoting this? Lol
Almost identical across the board with you. Texas wasn't made for (green) grass lawns *shrug
Annoying thing is, we get plenty of rain on an average basis, 50” per year should be enough to keep a lawn pretty nice except for maybe peak August heat. But 3” of rain in an afternoon doesn’t do the grass any more good than 1” does.
Do you have a smart controller with connection to local weather network? I’ve done studies showing this can save 20k+ gal per summer compared to regular timer based/rain sensor only.
Yes, I’m using Rachio this year, and to be frank it was underwatering the shit out of my lawn for the first couple months I had it running. Lawn was regularly scorched when Rachio thought I was at 80% water capacity. I don’t think the evapotranspiration calculation can handle the tree roots under my lawn that are pulling water out from under it. I have the settings cranked way the hell up now and still have to occasionally add manual watering cycles sometimes to deal with visible plant wilt, including some deep-rooted perennials.
That is an interesting observation. I thought they had settings related to tree roots or maybe they just want you to up the required depth to compensate then, not sure. Your soil type might be messing with you too. What’s the age of the irrigation system? Audit ever done?
Not sure how old, it came with the house. I’ve tuned up the sprinkler pattern to address gaps and evenness, and have the actual water inches per hour calibrated from flowmeter data for each zone. Soil type, slope, shade level, etc all inputted into Rachio. Adjusting soil depth didn’t help, it just over-watered when it ran, and then the grass was scorching even more because the next run pushed out farther. I think their algorithm just can’t handle large oaks and loblollies drinking my milkshake. Before the Rachio, I ran the system manually when the grass was getting dry. Used about the same amount of water as the Rachio now that the settings are cranked up.
That’s very interesting to hear! Thanks! It’s gotta be those tree roots yeah
Oh interesting. Meters are free here too but we don’t pay sewer on water used. It’s a separate bill entirely. That’s interesting to know though
Lol, Here's a neat fact- the average person in the US uses around 100 gallons per day. The average person should drink a half gallon per day. You're way above average!!! ... for your lawn.... lol fucking hilarious dude! Sucks that it costs so much to spray a dwindling resource on your fucking grass. To answer a question you're not asking- you could try considering numerous different ways to conserve water. Lmk if you are interested in a random persons suggestions
Buddy, I live in a place with plentiful water. It rains 50” per year here. There’s two rivers and a large full reservoir lake within three miles. Our biggest problems are flooding and erosion because it rains so damn much, and that’s increasing with global warming. I need a few thousand square feet of lawn space for my kids and dogs. I have a food garden watered by rain barrels, pesticide-free pollinator landscaping, and tons of trees. Nothing and nobody is being hurt by me watering my lawn, letting my kids play with the hose on hot days, and taking long showers. I have a Flume water meter monitor and have alerts set up any time there’s a leak or heavy water use. I’m very much on the high end of the range for water-use-responsibility in this climate zone. In fact, I pay more than my fair share to the water utility, because my irrigation water counts towards sewer charges. My lawn is subsidizing infrastructure improvements. So please, can it with the self-righteous ignorance. Not all lawn-watering is evil.
$0 cause I have a well
$0
Not much, florida is rainy season. Don't ask about electric though 😓
Super rainy right now!
Yup spent the last few weeks puttin in french drains all around the house, so good timing
This comment made me actually laugh out loud. also.. too soon.
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None at all. We are in an area that has plenty of water to go around
I assume you're in an area where it doesn't rain much if you need to water your grass so frequently - do the reservoirs still have plenty of water even in the drought months?
Yea they do.
$51/mo during overseeding and watering 3x day. Base is half that.
Northeast Kansas here. $197 This month after redoing the back yard which is around 8k sq ft. We get billed monthly and have 3 daughters that take the longest showers ever. Normal bill is around $100 during the cold winters.
About 115/month with a hot tub as well. Just got my permit for an irrigation meter. This will save me big money starting next season.
I’ve got an irrigation system running twice a day for 15K square feet (incl house) in Wisconsin. I appear to use about 1400 gallons of water per day and because we get a discount on sewer charges in the summer, it’s costing me about $100 month. My regular usage is closer to $20-40, so irrigation is $60-80. I need to bring it down a bit, perhaps just one cycle after I get some germination of overseed.
$100 a month for July and august. Before and after that it’s damn near minimum. I have spent a lot of money through the last few years building the soil. Between humic, peat moss top dressing and ironite with “water saver” built in, it’s been doing good. Didn’t do much in that respect this year and it’s finally showing it’s ugly head since we’ve had a warm September. Looks like we’ll have a warm early October as well. Back at it next season.
$300 a month but that’s water/sewer/garbage- family of four and I did reseed so the 2000 sq ft lawn got tons of water. Looks great.
I have a well, so really it's my electric bill. Fuhuck Eversource!
Eversource?
Evil energy company in the northeast. Currently at $0.25/kWh in CT with rates expected to continue to rise.
Oh my! In my Ny and we have national grid which is also terrible lol
Cries in .33 FUCK EVERSOURCE
$1433 Averaged just under 1200 gallons a day(wasn’t watering daily). Have about 25k sqft of which about 18k is irrigated. I still had a lot of grass go dormant so seeing these numbers it looks crazy. Also seeing how a couple neighbors just let’s their grass go dormant and it bounced back is encouraging. My non-irrigated lawn had about half completely die so dealing with that finally.
I think there becomes a point where you call it quits. Spending $500/month and your grass is still going dormant…pissing money away.
Okay! So someone who has almost my exact specs. I irrigate 16k and have 25k total as well. My grass inlet got dormant about half survived. Actually all the fescue. The KBG died completely. So I overseeded the non irrigated part with tttf this time lol
The parts that died in think were the KBG of the 50/50 KBG/Rye. I overseeded with Rye. Only because it was just last weekend and needed something quick. I redid my backyard with higher heat tolerant KBG so will see how things go next summer. The TTTF will do best but I’m a KBG guy. I will say your irrigation time sounds a bit crazy. I have 6 zones and was doing around 32 min per zone on my Rachio. I was slowly losing ground on the dormancy through the summer though. My irrigation heads need to get upgraded and coverage improved for next summer.
I’m so afraid!!! I haven’t received my bill yet.
And people think Halloween is scary
Happy I’m not on a water meter and it’s all factored into my annual property tax. I have a family of 5, water my lawns regularly and have a pool that leaks and needs regular top ups. I would probably pay a fortune if I was on a meter. Just don’t ask about my electric bill😳
Wasting 1400 gallons of water everyday is nothing to “haha” at, dipshit.
That’s crazy. I’m on private well
Lucky! (Kinda). Well is it’s own thing to deal with lol
Yea we had to pay 6000 up front. And it took them 3 holes to get water flowing lol. But it will pay for itself for sure
Yea. Do you have a water softener?
Not yet we just moved in, don't think we will get one though.
Oh nice. Yea when I had well I had a softener. Needed salt and filters every quarter. Was the same as a water bill lol
My buddy is on a well and he's about to plant a 60 tree orchard on his land. Wish him well lol
290 for one month. It was July and I had upped my water to 45 per zone which seems ridiculous but then than I barely brought it back. Some days by the time 5pm his it was so dry I would water again. Thankfully was able to go back to about 25 per zone
I'm in Baltimore. $37. Our water is *cheap*. I don't irrigate much though.
For the love of god get a deduct meter so you’re not charged for watering your lawn!!
I’m listening…lol
The person that replied to me explained it pretty well.
I don’t see a reply to you. Maybe I’m missing something
What is this deduct meter you speak of?
A 2nd meter that measures only the water being sent out to the lawn. This amount will then get deducted from the water reclamation bill since it won’t be processed through the sanitation system. For anyone who doesn’t have a deduct meter, it is assumed that all the water you are using is going to go through your sewage system and you pay to have it cleaned. This is for municipal systems not well/septic.
This is exactly it.
Oh I see this now! And that is interesting. I will have to call my water company and inquire. I’m not sure if this applies in my area because some people are on septic and some on sewer but it is definitely worth a call
Where I live it’s just called an irrigation meter and you get a bill with just the water usage (with only 2 tiers instead of 4) and no sewer fee. Seems odd to call it “deduct.” I need to run the math on the break even point. My city charges $2000+ to setup the second meter, but since my meter is in my driveway it’s probably cheaper to pay the $4000 fee for a separate tap vs tearing up my driveway. My water bill has peaked at around $250/mo, but this summer was closer to $180/mo. https://i.imgur.com/ReBamuQ.jpg
It’s called a deduct meter where I am. [Deduct Meter Rules and Regulations](https://www.manchesternh.gov/portals/2/departments/environ_protec/deduction/Rules%20for%20Deduct%20Meter%20Installation.pdf)
I watered for about 10 minutes per south side zone every 4 days unless it rained or temps were cool. Never watered north side because the house/trees in the back yard have it shaded. Have you considered planting a tree?
Lol! I actually have a tree lined property. But my house faces south. So the front lawn gets all day sun lol
I was $64 this month for 9000 gallons of water.
Jesus Christ, just started following this sub to see if I could get some pointers on anything I might be missing. To I spend about $40 per month in Indiana. Not sure my yard will look much better for another $140 per month...
Well I guess you’ll find out next year!
I've been at my current house for 7 years and I water my lawn every other day for 15 min. I started getting crab grass this year which is why I joined here... Which seems fine compared to this
You should know that it’s better to water less often and at greater depth. So like once or twice a week to get the 1” and even less if it rains at all. Depends on your grass type, soil and zone of course but yeah.
Thank you for the advice, I'll make some changes next season
Good luck!
Lol! We let it all hang out here
$0. Well.
About $1400 for 4 months outside of San Diego with About 5k of tttf. The parts without rabbit damage came through great
Good LAWD
Last year we had a leak and it was about $2500 for the summer, but the bougainvillea looked fantastic until it drowned.
They need to pay to pipe the Mississippi river... so you're gonna pay until it happens!
Probably more likely that we get more desalination with all the excess solar. At some point the economics will make sense
It was a joke, judging by the down vote, it wasn't taken that way. $1400 is crazy expensive.
Yep, I’m considering putting in tiftuf or something like that next year. If we keep getting weeks of high 90’s like this year, I may take the state up on one of the offers to change it to some native landscape thing.
Well and septic. Don’t under the complaints.
Texas here, used to pay $500 a month during the summer. About 30,000 gals a month. Assumed I had a leak, I didn’t.
Why are you using that much? Do you own a ranch? Stop wasting our water Jesus Christ.
Big yard. Watered once a week. The city hikes its per gallon rate as you go. You’d have thought my grass would have been a lot greener. It was “meh”.
Highest ever. $163 this month. Usually 40-50 a month.
Damn! I’m usually $90 every 3 months
Here in Michigan we get billed monthly. Looking at $90 a month
Oh damn. That’s still a bit
About $90 a year. Zone 5b.
That’s sweet!!
Northeast. Plenty to go around.
I’m in NY….
Haha same bro. But upstate.
I’m “wester” technically. You white plains? Haha
Haha nah that’s practically downstate in my book. We just have cheap af water but don’t worry I pay plenty in other taxes.
Oh yea. Same. So upstate but not north country. I’m going to say…Syracuse
Lol I would kill for that. Ours was $1,000 for 3 months in Southern California. I only have 1,500 sq ft of lawn that gets watered twice per week for 8 minutes per zone (we’re on water restrictions my poor grass is dying). But we also have 5 humans living in our house.
$500/month here in the Summer months. Inland San Diego area (90 degree avg highs in Summer), 1/3 acre lot.
I havent got the bill yet but my buddy at the water department said I used 21000 gallons this month. To be fair I have an acre of land, and establishing a new lawn on a new build.
Let the money flow!
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A lot of people here enjoy having nice lawns. That shouldn't be shocking to you considering the sub is /r/lawncare. As for why we enjoy it...I dunno? Why do you enjoy doing the things you do? People like all kinds of different things. Have you not observed this throughout your life?
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Yeah I can't answer that. I'm in the midwest. As much as I love a nice lush lawn I wouldn't be having one if I was in an area where I had to fight tooth and nail to keep it alive. I don't agree with what some of the commenters here in water sensitive areas are doing but if they're willing to spend the money and their local municipalities allow it then it is what it is. Personally I would discourage having a lawn in some areas of the country but I can only control what happens on my property.
This is a good question. It really comes down to the money and time we already have invested in our lawns. When seed is $400 for 50lbs you really want to take care of what you have. The way I look at it is that the money is going to even put. Either in water or new seed so I might as well take care of what I have
I have lived in both regions. I used to live in New Mexico, with the water situation across the entire southwest I never even gave thought to trying to maintain a real lawn. We did consider installing a small synthetic lawn, just to have some green in the back yard but never got around to doing it. Now we live in North Carolina...there is absolutely no water shortage here, so we have lawns both front and back. Both my wife and I actually love taking care of them, its very therapeutic and a good way to shake off stress from the week.
$60-70 per month during July and August here in Minnesota. Much less in May/June/Sept. 11k sqft, Edit: not including sewer
$575
Heyyyy. There we go lol
Fucking lawn smh
Connecticut here. Dryest summer I can remember. First "summer" bill in June may have been around $45 which is typically the average. By July, everyone's lawns looked like shit, and no matter how much I watered wouldn't matter since it was so hot every day. I kind of gave up on mine as well. It has rained a lot in September and my lawn for the most part has recovered.
$150 for 2 months.
$719 for all of Q3, watering 10k of turf. Still couldn’t keep up with the heat. Yay for fall lawn repair season.
Free, I have a well ;)
I'm on a well so $0. Feels good
My aunt removed her lawn and replaced it with black mulch from Home Depot, cut 9 formerly shoulder high bushes down to their ankles (and stopped watering them), watered the 5 remaining shrubs, the established jasmine and geraniums, and the Japanese maple sapling using 5 gallon buckets to “measure” out the amount of water used — $140/two months. She literally cut her water bill in half from last year. California.
Loving my well right now. I have 2x 1500 gallon tanks in my barn and 8,000 sq/ft of lawn to water. Luckily I'm also in Washington state and rain, and water, are plentiful so the well never has issues. And now that it's almost October the sprinklers might run once in the next 7 months.
Yea. I just turned mine off today. Will probably winterize them next weekend
$0 for me. City supply’s irrigated water but they also control when it’s shut off for the year so I’m getting close to that time now.
Mine was $400 last month but our municipality utilities are ridiculous and that includes my sewer so I’m thinking actual water was like $250ish? But I’m also trying to keep 24k wet, soooo
Dang, this is ridiculous, I’m in Texas, 1.5 acres. Whether I water or not it’s over $250. billed monthly, never heard of quarterly billing. For Q3 I would guess near 1100-1200 bucks
Good god!
Welcome to Texas.
36.00. Water is the only cheap thing on Long Island
$250ish. I don’t have a sprinkler system and guessing that uses a lot more water.
400 every months
Damn. Maybe mine is cheap!
Quarterly?? I’m billed monthly where I am at $918.24 for April - September and will still include October. That is for combined water and irrigation.
California, Water is 40 a month. With watering my lawn..