Use all the water you want

I got my water bill in the mail recently.   Because of all this hot weather I was concerned that my water bill might be high.   I don’t water my lawn, but I do water my garden and my flowers.

Imagine my surprise when my water bill was only $17.61.  That was great.   Except – my total water bill came to $81.03.

What in the world’s going on?  What am I paying for that costs $80 a month.   Turns out, the people who seem to know, can’t really explain it.

The biggest part of my $80.03 bill was for LOTT treatment.  That was  $34.  Now, I know that LOTT is the sewage treatment system and I know that it treats all of the sewage we produce.

But, I have no idea where they spend their money.   A while back they built a beautiful new headquarters building at the Port of Olympia that would be the envy of any government agency.  I know they purchased about 30 acres of property, in Tumwater,  that used to be the old Olympia brewery.   But, that’s all I know.

No one tells me where my $34 a month goes or what it does.  And, because it’s run by a board of appointed elected officials, no one is in charge.

And, then my bill has a $16 charge for city sewer.   I thought that’s what LOTT did but boy was I wrong.  LOTT just treats the sewer.  The city has to collect it and send it to the LOTT plant.

The bottom line is about $50 of my $80.03 bill goes for sewage.

But wait, I’m not done yet. I paid a storm water fee of $7.36.  I guess that’s to collect the rain that falls from the sky but belongs to the Department of Ecology.  Why do I have to pay for storm water retention?  It’s not my water.

But, there’s still more.   I pay about $4.50 in utility taxes.   Get this.  The government tells me how much I have to pay for my utilities and then it taxes me on them.   There’s something wrong with that.

And, finally, I have to pay a Fire Suppression tax of a dollar.  What’s that for?   I thought we paid for fire services through our property taxes.

Altogether my water bill came to $80.03 and water only cost me $17 of it.

So, if you’re worried about using too much water – – don’t be.   The water doesn’t cost you all that much.   It’s all the fees and taxes the city adds on that really count.

So, use as much water as you want.   It doesn’t cost hardly anything.