Your water bill has three main parts: a flat monthly service charge you pay no matter what, a charge for the water you actually used (counted in gallons), and a sewer charge that is usually based on that same water use. Many bills measure in CCF — one CCF is 748 gallons. A sudden spike almost always means a leak.
Water bills are quieter than electric bills, but they hide the same trick: the total is several different charges wearing one trench coat. Separate them and the bill makes sense.
The lines on the bill
Service or base charge: a flat fee, often $10 to $20, for having the meter and the connection at all. Water usage: what you actually ran through the taps, priced per 1,000 gallons or per CCF. Sewer: the cost of taking the water away and treating it. Cities usually just base sewer on your water use — they assume what comes in goes back out — which is why sewer often costs as much as the water itself. Some bills add a stormwater fee for rain runoff on streets and drains.
Cheap gallons and expensive gallons
Many utilities charge in tiers: the first block of water each month is priced low, because it covers basic living. Use a lot more — long showers, a thirsty lawn — and the extra gallons cost more apiece. The bill is quietly nudging you to waste less.
Your household used 6,000 gallons last month. At $6 per 1,000 gallons, the water itself is $36. Add a $14 service charge and a $28 sewer charge, and your total lands around $78 — of which the actual water was less than half. That is normal; the pipes and treatment plants are what you are really paying for.
Reading the usage number
The most useful number on the bill is not the total — it is the gallons used, and how it compares to last month and last year. A typical person uses roughly 50 to 100 gallons a day at home, so a two-person household often lands between 3,000 and 6,000 gallons a month. Way above your normal range, with no guests and no new garden? Something is running that should not be.