Sewer Costs

[washregal]

Just received my last qtr sewer bill and almost gagged...

I am paying 4.5 x the cost of my water to get rid of it.

What the local sewer authority does is take water usage and devises a formula for costing:

Does anyone have detail on some sort of dispensation for towel drying, evaporation and the like.

The Water company states I used 151k of water last qtr. This can't be all drained to sewer? What is the avg cost out there for sewer disposal.

Can anyone help?

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

My sewer cost is the same as my water cost, ie if water usage is $1000, sewer is $1000.
The SSCWN has a reprint of an article that you can use to help if you appeal your sewer costs, but the concensus is that most people are not successful with an appeal. Certainly worth the try though.

If my sewer was 4.5 * water, I would look really hard at reclaim. Some of the reclaim suppliers can help you with an appeal to the water/sewer dept. Call them.

 

[mac]

Welcome to carwashing. You can expect to lose about 25% due to evaporation, runoff, and overspray. However you are in the position of closing the barn door after the cows have left. The best time to negotiate this is before you build and pay their fees. Some have put flow meters on the main drain to recieve a discount. If your fees are real high, you should get a reclain system, but you need to be very proactive if you want any relief. They will not want to do anything on this, nor will they care. Be persistent and professional.

 

[rph9168]

In addition to reclaim you might want to check to see if they will allow for a meter on your sewer discharge in your area. In many areas you can put a meter similiar to a water meter that will measure your discharge and you will be billed for actual sewer usage rather than based on water comsumption.

 

[bneckrock]

Many of us are at the mercy of the communities in which we do business. My suburb buys water from the City of Detroit and are stuck with their formula which is the "sewerage" fee (that's what they call it) is 200% of the water. I asked if I had a bottling company, would the same apply?

Their response was, "Do you see any bottling companies in this town?"

 

[washnvac]

My town allowed me to put in a sewer meter. Ofcourse I read the same articles that said evap, carryoff, etc. was 20-25%. Nope, nope, nope. It was, and is a very disappointing 8-10% at my location. I do have reclaim. I am not sure why it is so low. On a windy day, you can certainly see it blowing out the bays. My IBA does have doors, and they are closed in Winter and windy days, but it should still be more than 10%.....shouldn't it? Anyhow the force main sewer meter was $4k. I am saving about $75 a month on avg. So the payback is 4.5 years or so. Still an Ok investment. My water is $2 per thou, and sewer is $4 per thou.

 

[rph9168]

I am somewhat surprised at the results with a meter on the sewer, I have seen some tunnel operations reduce their sewer bill by as much as 20-25%. I don't remember if they used reclaim but my guess would be yes. They were also friction units as well. Do you also have self service bays? 7-10% seems low but you know your results. To me that is a little disappointing.

 

[Bob Koo]

My town allowed me to put in a sewer meter. Ofcourse I read the same articles that said evap, carryoff, etc. was 20-25%. Nope, nope, nope. It was, and is a very disappointing 8-10% at my location.

Don't forget that you are located in DE, so you got a carry-in factor in your winter season. We never see the likes of that stuff down in Florida.

 

[washnvac]

This particular location has one IBA, and 5 self-serve bays. The 8-10% is fairly consistent all year long. Strange, huh?

 

[robert roman]

Water and sewer rates vary considerably across the country. I have a client with an express exterior wash that just saw his rate rise from $3.00 per 1,000 gallons to $9.00 or about $0.47 per car with the new rate. Based on his sales volumes, reclaim would have a payback period of less than two years.

Depending on how much land, roof area and mean rainfall you have, you may be able to augment reclaim with a rain water harvesting system to further reduce your reliance on fresh tap water.

If you combine biological and mechanical reclaim, you could also recover and reuse waste water from the wand-bays without having to worry about someone dumping an oil change down your catch basin.

Carry-out and evaporative losses can also vary considerably but the typical value is 10% to 15%.

Hope this helps.

Bob Roman
www.carwashplan.com