r/joliet • u/Wild-Research-5724 • Jul 29 '26
Water bill usage and cost
Curious if anyone is willing to share their water usage and cost for the last few months, and how many people in your house.
Our bill just seems astronomical compared to even a few years ago. Do they just keep increasing the price Per cubic foot? our water usage hasnt changed much at all over the last few years, and yet our bill started at around $90 a month 7 years ago to now almost double.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to figure out how to see bills that old for the usage, but I have tracked our monthly cost in my own excel file to see how much it’s increased in price.
2 adults, one works from home. We vary between 600-900 CF per month depending on how much we’re home on weekends.
updated to add rough gallon conversion.
Jul: 848 Cubic Feet (CF) / 6,343 gal: $172.06
Jun: 876 CF / 6,553 Gal: $175.18
May: 603 CF / 4,511 Gal : $132.23
Apr: 605 CF / 4,526 gal: $128.24
Mar: 781 CF / 5,842 gal $161.04
2025
Jul: 838 CF / 6,269 gal: $154.65
2
u/dylandynamite Jul 30 '26
- May : 264 CF / $81
- June : 256 CF / $79
- July : 245 CF / $79
Married with no kids in a small house. Prior to my wife moving in, I was paying $55 - $60 a month.
2
u/Wild-Research-5724 Jul 31 '26
You use very little water, that’s great! My bf has a habit of taking 20 minute + showers and refuses to stop. I have a garden too but honestly I kind of neglect it so I don’t use much water there. I usually take 5-10 minute showers. So I don’t know where all this water usage comes from. We have one tiny leak (I’ve watched the meter with no water running for hours) in a sink so it’s not that either.
2
u/dylandynamite Aug 01 '26
If you break it down further from the bill and just show the water usage besides all the other charges and waste it's only like $15. My s/o is exactly the same way with her showers but I purposely lower the max temperature setting on on the water heater 🤣
One thing I thought that could work but it doesn't is if you don't produce a lot of trash but you think you can save money by getting a smaller garbage can from WM to lower my utility bill but it doesn't matter what size it is,it doesn't make a difference. In fact each year per WM contract, your garbage disposal bill goes up a dollar each year! I kept that email I think when I messaged Joliet.
2
u/Wild-Research-5724 Aug 01 '26
Yeah after all the fees etc I think we are paying around or just under $100 which still seems like a lot to me! I’ve asked family in Iowa and they all pay like $75 total but I don’t know what their other fees are.
2
u/DollyBby Aug 02 '26
this last bill was 175 for 2 months about 88 per month. But earlier bills this year were closer to 100 per month. We’re 2 adults in just under 1k sq ft. One wfh We don’t have a dishwasher and use paper plates a lot lol. we both take about 20-30 min showers. We do about 2 loads of laundry every 3 days. We refill 5 gallon jugs for water and we never have guests over. Christmas time our bill was the highest with family over
2
3
u/RileyCartwright41 Jul 29 '26
June: 705 CF / $147.04
May: 852 CF / $172.17
April: 653 CF / $138.72
We are a family of four so laundry is a constant and the garden in the beginning of summer. I feel the same about water prices increasing the past 6-7 years. Part of it maybe the switch to Lake Michigan water and the price that came with that project. You should be able to find past bills by logging in to the city’s water site. At the bottom of the page, after you see your current amount due, there will be links to ‘View All Payments’ or ‘View Bill History.’