We have lived here for the last 10 years. We always pay our water bill. Occasionally, we’ll forget and receive a final notice for our water bill which we will promptly pay.
Tonight at 8 pm, a city police officer banged on our door with a blinding flashlight in hand. Made me verify my identification and then handed me my water bill (the due date being a week from now)
What the hell!
LPT when a cop Knicks on your door, dont answer it.
I’m guessing this is in the U.S.? Where I live water is paid through yearly property taxes, along with garbage and other services from the city. Nobody around me has ever seen a “water bill”. Businesses pay for the amount of water they use, but citizens all pay an annual flat rate through their taxes and can use as much water as they want, unless there are temporary restrictions.
Sorry to hear about your dystopia.
I’m sure the next person on that police officer’s list is a billionaire that’s doing tax evasion.
I’m in the US, and they repossessed my garbage can once because we couldn’t pay.
Don’t tell me they fucking lease you the bin
I wouldn’t say you lease it. It’s free with trash service, but they typically take it if you have out-standing dues so the trash folk won’t take your trash until you pay the bill.
Yeah it comes free with the monthly fee you pay. It always fun when people make that argument. Totally free as long as you’re paying the money already.
Yes. Pretty much. And you have to pay extra for two if you need more room. And you have to use their bin, they won’t pick up just any old bin.
I had to pay an extra set up fee to get them to bring it back when I got a job and could start paying them again.
That actually sounds like a great way to get people wasting a lot of water. Are you somewhere wet?
Yes, I do live in a place that has lots of fresh water, we do use a lot, and yes, if people were paying for the amount of water they use, they would waste less
However, do you know who is using even more water than citizens? Corporations. And they pay even less.
In one region alone, 18 businesses are using more than 75 000 litres *every day", representing billions of litres of water in a year, and combined, they paid $192 000 CAD in 2019.
Before making citizens pay for every drop of water they use, and accusing them of “wasting” water, I’d first turn my attention to corporations taking our resource for peanuts.
Water is a right, not a commodity.
I mean, it’s both.
Water is so cheap though.
As in, if you use a lot of power you’ll notice your bill is expensive.
When you use a lot of water it costs a few dollars.
In Australia tap water is (generally) a government service. We pay a set annual fee for the connection, and then a rate per kL. That rate is $2 AUD per kL for the first 150 kL.
Average full time wage is about $1,000 AUD per week after taxes.
Incidentally our water meter is broken and only records a tiny portion of our actual water usage, but our family of 4 probably uses 500L a day, 15kL a month.
If we were to double our usage that’s $30 a month so it’s just not really a noticable cost.
Hmm, looks like it’s 5CAD/m3 here, and another 2CAD for sewerage. There’s a hint on the bill that it might get higher if you’re a big consumer, but I don’t actually know. (1kL = 1m3)
You’re right, it’s not huge, but if you own a swimming pool I imagine it can still add up. My friend who’s a seasoned municipal worker says it’s way lower than what it should be, too, although I can’t confirm that’s a numerically informed position.
The provisioning of free landfilling and free roads and parking definitely has had unfortunate side-effects, at least.
I don’t live in the US, where I live specifically we have water at a flat rate like you but in other areas of the country there are water meters and people get water bills.
There is talk that we may have water meters in my city soon. I’m actually looking forward to it. People think it’s a new bill they didn’t have before but really it’s a different way of paying the same bill. The bonus is that if you cut your water usage (or were already a low user) you can reduce your bill and pay less than you did before.
The other reason it’s a good thing is that it’s estimated a huge proportion of our water is lost to underground leaks on private property. Without water meters they have no way to track down what property has the leak, so property owners aren’t even aware they are there.
It’s like that pretty much in every US city.
I grew up in a rural area where we don’t have water bills because our homes have individual wells and septic tanks
Water bills were a weird thing to adjust to when I first moved to the city
Personally, I’d rather pay for my usage. I’ve lived in an apartment complex where they didn’t have a meter for every apattment and let me tell you, the second people around here don’t directly pay for their own usage it seems like they just waste water on purpose. I couldn’t figure out how these people used up that much water based on my previous typical monthly usage.
I wish people weren’t that way.
What’s wrong with them using said water? Also you have only one data point for people in the complexes usage which may not be a good indicator.
If they are using more than they really need, there’s plenty wrong with that. Water may be recyclable but there’s still only so much to go around at once. And I mean in general.
I think it’s a pretty good indicator. Because that’s how a lot of people treat things when they go from having to pay for there usage to getting it free. Think of how many people waste food at buffets cause they paid a flat rate to get in. There’s no incentive to be conservative.
No matter how long they run that faucet they will never be a top user, because their competitors in this race is literally all commercial water companies and they barely even use their water comparatively. All it takes to triple the water usage is 2 more people than one.
This is just hating on people for living slightly differently than you.
maybe he used it as an excuse to approach you and maybe check some things
Maybe the post office fucked something up so he has to deliver it?
How would a cop even acquire your mail in the first place?
All I can guess is like, the cop had to pick up the job cuz someone else was sick or something???
Weird lol.
Well that’s dystopian as fuck… unless it’s like a really small town and like one dude is the mayor, sheriff, town treasurer and champion hotdog eater. Then it becomes a simple matter of necessity.
It is a small-ish town, but in the 8 years we have lived here we’ve never had a police officer deliver a water bill or anyone for that matter, especially at 8 at night
With an authoritative tone he told me to “Make you pay that in the morning”
According to the bill he handed me, it’s due in a week
Made me wonder how many other people he harassed tonight
Does the city own the water company? It seems pretty petty and weird and kind of a resource management issue. I doubt the cop was thrilled about it either… most of them do like to think of themselves as crime fighters not debt collectors.
I’d call the police station or the water company and ask. I might even call the local paper and mention that you’re being harassed. I can’t count how many times I paid a water bill late in my 20’s… actually had them come out and pull the whole valve out and cap the supply line. 😅
Never got a visit from the police.
Same here
The usual process is that if you don’t pay your bill then the city worker comes out to shut off the water, then if you still don’t pay it they send the bill to collections
At no point is law enforcement involved
According the bill, it wasn’t even due yet
City hall is getting an earful in the morning
Not only is it inappropriate, it’s dangerous. Someone beating on my door aggressively at 8 at night instinctively made me think about grabbing a weapon.
Instead I peered through a window and saw the cop and his car and opened the door.
But people can be jumpy, fight or flight kicks in and suddenly someone gets seriously hurt or even dead over a stupid water bill.
He first tried to verify my identification without stating the nature of his visit. He asked me for my name and date of birth. Instead of giving that to him I asked to state the nature of his visit.
Then he asked again. I never gave him my name even though he asked for it repeatedly.
He said he wanted to make sure it ended up at the right house. He read off the address and I just looked at the number on the house and pointed to the mailbox.
I’m not identifying myself to the police for no real legal justification or taking hand receipt of a document, God knows if it’s some kind of ploy to initiate some other charge.
ACAB
You sure the cop was real? Almost sounds like a scam where a fake cop intimidates you in paying a fake bill
My first thought too lol
But if it is a scam the dude put a ton of effort into it with a complete uniform and a cruiser with the correct city livery and accessories just to hand me a complete and correct water bill that matches their weird card stock they use
It would be a pretty impressive scam for a town with a population of less than 4,000
maybe the bill is fake and it goes to his donut fund
Well, I’m paying in person at city hall so they’re going to have to give it to him
Maybe it accidentally went to his house and he was delivering it?
I do the same with my water bill! It’s my only bill that won’t do auto pay, so sometimes it gets forgotten. 🤷🏻♂️
