Rain, Rain, Please come here...

...water bill is what I fear!

Remember that old kid's song, the one we sang when it was raining and we couldn't go out to play? Well, the above is my version.

You see, North Texas has been under a drought since 2005 and things are getting somewhat nasty. My water bill is the worst of all the nastiness. (For those of you that read my blog regularly, the huge rain that we had a couple of months ago completely missed the lake in which our water is from).

Last week, the city of Rowlett instituted TEMPORARY price increases for water. If you saw my water bill previous to this jacking of prices, you might agree that the price was already crazy. Now, it is just nonsense. How does a family with 4 kids living at home manage water consumption? The answer is that we don't and we are going to get creamed for it.

The new pricing is based on 1000 gallon increments, and goes up after 15,000 gallons. That is a lot of water, isn't it? Well, it might be, but it is NOT enough for us. Two months ago we used a whopping 58,000 gallons. That would have resulted in a water bill over $640 bucks. Last month, 38,000 - still a HUGE bill. We mostly reduced our consumption by watering the lawn less. Now, as per city regulations, we water once a week - on trash day. I'll give it 20 minutes per zone in the morning, and another 20 minutes in the evening. Gets the lawn a little over an inch per week (recommended by most lawn care services).

We are going to meet with the kids about saving water. We're taking steps that should help us reduce our usage even more than just watering less. We've started turning the water off while we shower, shave and brush our teeth. We are reusing water from the kiddie pool in our landscaping, and running less bath water for Cassie. I don't know how much more we can cut, but we're trying. I'll update when we get this month's water bill.

One last thing - In North Texas, the soil quality is such that we need to keep the moisture content stable around the foundations of our houses. One of the reasons why I watered so often, is that the sprinklers would ensure that this was done. Now, I have to go and buy soaker hoses to do this...anyone know how often or how long I should keep the soakers on to ensure that the foundation stays good? Let me know.

SL