Now That's A Lot Of Water

Got my water bill: 3,300 baht ($80)... 189,000 liters.

Personally, I can't even wrap my mind around that much water. It's obviously a mistake. My bill from the month prior was 160 baht ($4)... 13,000 liters.

I figure that Tui put about 20 inches worth of water in the pool... in addition to 10 inches of rain. I figure that would be about 10,000 liters tops.

My best guess is that it is caused by the drought: When there is no water in the pipes, obviously there is air. If air blows past the little water-counting thingy, the water-counting thingy probably counts it. Therefore, a liter of air passing by is counted the same as a liter of water.

Well anyway, I think the people at the water department... even though they are Thai... will recognize that it is pretty impossible for a private residence to go through 189,000 liters of water in a month. I doubt I will have to pay that bill.

[update]

Toom took the 3,000-baht water bill to the water company, and they basically said "if our computer says 3,000 baht, then it is 3,000 baht." That's the typical Thai response.

I did the math, and 189,000 liters is about 120% the volume of my pool... so maybe they are right. In addition to that, I suspect that the 160-baht bill from the month prior did not represent a full month somehow, as my water bill is usually in the 900-1100 baht range. Therefore, the 3,000 baht may represent more than a 30-day period. Still though... that's a whole lot of water.

I gave the bill to Tui, who had said before that if any water bill is over 1,000 baht ($25), Rangsima would pay the difference. He said the same again, so this must be a standing deal with tenants in this house regarding the water bill (and the leaky pool). (This is the fourth time it has been over 1,000 baht... but this is the first time it has been over 1,500 baht.)