I should be floating

Posted on December 4, 2005 by Gene

At the house I was renting for the last six months, there was a huge soaking tub big enough for two. And I routinely took luxurious baths in it once or twice a month. There was an industrial size washer, top-loading and large enough to wash comforters or a week’s worth of clothes all at once — it filled the tub with water, gallons and gallons.
My bi-monthly water bill at that house was about $50.
So why is it that my first water bill at the new house — a house with a bathtub in which I never took a bath, a house where I installed a front-loading, low-water washer, a house where my sprinklers run only 30 minutes or so per day — a bill that covers November 3 – November 30, a period in which I was only in residence from the 17th – 30th, added up to $57?
According to the bill, in that 27 day period I used an astonishing 14,960 gallons of water. That’s an average of 554 gallons per day.
How is this possible?