Billing, Rates & Fees
Three Rivers Water Department Billing Procedure
- Cash is not accepted in payment of your water bill, personal check or money order is accepted.
- Residential customers are billed every 3 months (four times a year) called quarters.
- The water rate is $6.00 per 1,000 gallons.
- Each dwelling unit or apartment unit is charged for 10,000 gallons of water each quarter regardless of actual amount of water used. At the current rate of $6.00/1,000 gallons, a fee of $60.00 per quarter (3 months) per dwelling unit is charged. This is called the minimum use charge.
- A meter rental fee is also added to each quarterly bill based on the size of the meter. For a single family home, this charge is typically $6.00 per 3 months.
- Once a year, the meter is read to determine the actual amount of water consumed in the past year. If more than the minimum 40,000 gallons per year per dwelling unit was consumed, you are charged for any extra usage at the same rate of $6.00 per 1,000 gallons. This is called surplus water charge.
- The surplus water charge is posted on your 2nd quarter bill typically sent in July.
If you feel your usage to be abnormally high, refer to the water conservation links.
Please call the Three Rivers Water Dept. office at 413-283-9284 if you have any questions or want additional tips on how to save water and reduce your bill.
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Abnormal High Water Usage
If you feel your bill appears to be abnormally high, first check our other page explaining how the water department bills for water use at your home. You might find that our overage billing caused a larger but proper charge on the July billing.
If you feel that might not be the problem, then check the meter reading yourself. Your meter is normally located in the front part of your basement. Compare the reading noted on your bill to be sure it is correct. The Water Dept. reads the first four digits of tine meter and rounds down to the nearest thousand gallons. Please call the Water Dept. office if you feel there is a discrepancy.
The most likely cause of high usage is a leaking flapper seat in the toilet tank. There might be a very slight hissing noise, but no actual flushing seen in the bowl. These leaks can consume from 100 up to over 2,540 gallons per day (30,000 gallon per year up to over 1,400,000 gallons per year). Your bill will reflect this wasted usage.
We recommend you fix any problems immediately to reduce future high water bills. See our other page on this site to help you diagnose and repair toilet problems.
Please call the Dept. Office at 283-9284 if you have any additional questions or wants tips on how to find and fix leaks.