The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Our water bill for this past month was $100.10 cents.  We have lived in this house over 2years and it has never been over 65-70 dollars including sewer, EMSA, trash and recycling fee.  It is just my wife and I and there is no way we used over 12,000 gallons of water (over 400 a day).  I did not run the sprinkler system, and to my knowledge we have no leak.  The actual amount for the water portion of our bill was 56 dollars (which is normally what our entire bill is).  Our billing cycle is the 9th of month to the 9th of the following month.  I checked the meter the other day and we have used 4700 gallons since our last meter reading.  What should I do?  Call and complain to the city of Jenks?  What do I ask for? someone to come out and verify anything?

They can pull up our history and see that our water bill has never been more then 70 dollars.  Any ideas??

Definitely check for leaks under the house.  I had a bill that was over $300 one month because of a leak under the house!

Call the Jenks Public Works Authority and ask for a re-read of the meter. 299-5363.

We also had an unusually high Jenks water bill this month.. I've lived in this house for 8 years and this one's definitely the highest... last month = 2nd highest.
I may just have to check the meter myself

I plan on calling them tomorrow to discuss.  I checked the meter and using their ending number from our bill to Sun, we had used around 4000 gallons.  So it sounds like there isnt a desrepancy in the meter reading, but there is just no way we used that much water.  If I had a leak under the house, wouldnt it drainoff somewhere in my yard? 

My wife is calling them tomorrow to ask some questions, but short of having the meter reviewed, there isnt much I can do is there?  I will see what they say before I call in a plumber or a leak detection service, from prior experience it can be VERY COSTLY and we don't have alot of extra cash right now.

Thanks for advice guys.  Wanted to make sure I was headed in the right direction.

It's also possible they had been estimating your bill and are playing catch-up.

Check for dripping faucets, running toilets, dishwasher that isn't shutting off, etc. A bad toilet flapper ran off about 3,000 gallons for me in a month.

I had a broken sprinkler head mid-summer that caused my bill to triple, unfortunately I didn't figure it out until halfway through my next billing cycle.  I would run the sprinklers in the middle of the night and by morning there was no evidence to know any better. 

There are factors which will affect how much flow you get like your pipe I.D. from the meter to the house and how many elbows are in it but figuring your water pressure being 60 to 80 psi on average, you might see flow rates of 20 to 25 gpm through a garden hose.  IOW, you could use as much as 500 gallons in 20 minutes washing your car in your driveway with an open-ended hose.  I've fallen asleep and left a high volume soaker going in my yard a few times and I sure notice it on my water bill the next month.

"If I had a leak under the house, wouldnt it drainoff somewhere in my yard? "

Unfortunately mine didn't.  I went under the house, saw where the water was, then followed this little stream around until it went into this hole in the ground lol.  I was like,,, "What the heck? Is there an opening to Carlsbad Caverns under my house or something?" lol  There was no indication of water in the yard or neighbors yard either.  Just vanished down that hole.  Course I am on a bit of a slope and have a lot of rock/sandstone formations under the topsoil.

Wow, a referance to Carlsbad Caverans.  Always takes me back to my childhood.

Of course, you could have something like Devil's Kettle there.

http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/devilskettle.shtml
(http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/images/splash/mn/vdevilskettle1.jpg)

You can tell if you have a leak somewhere fairly easily.

Go around the house and make sure all of the faucets, ice makers, dish and clothes washer are all off and not toilets are running. The lift up the meter lid and see if the red arrow (the one in the meter not our friend on the forum) is spinning. If it is, you have a leak.

Hey now. Don't go bringing common sense into this. It just messes up the whole discussion. lol

Me too.  Water line broke under the slab.  Had no idea I had a leak.  Lots of jackhammering to find it.

Turn off all running water in the house.Watch the water meter for a few minutes and see if any of the dials are moving..If so it looks like a probable linc.

I get dizzy if I try to spin.