September bills with August consumption should start arriving in mailboxes this week. You may be surprised at how much your bill is if you irrigate.  Irrigation can take a 6 ccf (1 ccf=748 gallons) customer to 40 ccf in one month.

One sprinkler running for 10 minutes can use up to 170 gallons. Think about how many sprinkler heads you have, how long they run for and how many days/week they run? It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where you are using almost 40 ccfs (30,000 gallons) per month.

An average day we pump 105 Million Gallons. Lately, we’ve been pumping about 135-140 MGD. This is most likely due to the very dry summer.

Our pricing structure is designed to encourage conservation. The more gallons you use the more a gallon costs.

We have more than 250K residential active accounts. In August we had more than 700 high bill investigation requests. But we are seeing many more social media complaints that aren’t turning into 311 calls.

Customers call requesting that we inspect the meter for inaccuracies but most of the time, it’s a leak or irrigation.That doesn’t mean that equipment problems don’t occur though so,  if you don’t think its a leak or your irrigation system causing the high bill, call 311 so Charlotte Water can investigate.

Irrigation Tips:

1. Lawns only needs one inch of water including rain a week
2. Water slowly- when water starts to run off grass, Stop sprinklers, let water soak in and then start watering again
3. Seasons change, so should your system. Familiarize yourself with the settings on your irrigation controller and adjust the watering schedule regularly to conform with seasonal weather conditions.
4. Evaporation is highest in the afternoon. Avoid irrigating between noon and 6 pm.
5. Play “zone” defense. Schedule each individual zone in your irrigation system to account for the type of sprinkler, sun or shade exposure, and the soil type for the specific area. The same watering schedule rarely applies to all zones in the system. Make it a date.
6. Inspect your irrigation system monthly. Check for leaks, broken or clogged heads, and other problems, or engage an irrigation professional to regularly check your system. Clean micro-irrigation filters as needed.
7. Get your head adjusted. Correct obstructions in sprinkler heads that prevent sprinklers from distributing water evenly. Keep water off pavement and structures.
8. Consider converting lawn to shrubs and grasses which need less water. We’ve got some great blog articles on this exact topic here, here, here and here.