If you check your bill, you will probably see that you are being charges for more than just water coming out of the tap. You are likely being billed for that same amount of water to go back into the sewer, and for other incidentals the water bureau has added to the bill (including unrelated city projects). If you cut your water consumption, you will also cut down on the costs used to calculate sewer in-flow. So you will save double. Some cities also offer water-bill discounts for disconnecting your rain-water downspouts from the sewer line. In Portland, those are offered through the Bureau of Environmental Services Clean River Rewards Program. Meanwhile, if you are in certain income brackets, you can apply for monthly discounts, "crisis vouchers," "Utility Safety Net" rebates, or non-profit organization grant assistance to pay your water bills. If you cannot pay your current bill, call the municipality to ask to go onto a payment arrangement, deferral, or stretch plan of some sort. (Then, as a side effort, you might petition your water bureau to stop padding the bill with pet projects.) Hope this helps.
Like most have already said, you'll spend a lot more money on bottled water than on tap water.
To lower your water bill use less water. When you take a shower, shut off the water while you lather. For the laundry wait until you have enough clothes for one load, don't use the washer for (for example) only three t-shirts, wait until you have more things to put in. Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. If you have a dishwasher wait until it's full to run it. If you wash dishes by hand, turn off the tap while you soap up the dishes. If you have a lawn, water it when it's cooler like in the early morning or in the evening. Make sure automatic sprinklers are shut off when it
A suggestion that will cost you money in the short term, but help you save more in the long term:
Get a steam mop for floors. It only uses about a couple of glasses of water and you can clean an entire room vs. at least one gallon when you use a mop and bucket.
First, how would you use bottled water to shower? Second, my guess is that you will end up spending more money - a gallon of bottled water costs more than the stuff that comes through your pipes, so the only way you save money is by using much less water.
Use bottled water for showers you will pay approx 6 times what you spend now per gallon
Example, to flush a toilet with a 5 gallon tank would cost me $0.30 for municipal water, 5 gallons of the cheapest water available in my area would cost $1.65, no savings there. Plus you would have to pay more electricity to pump your bottled water into a shower
Tasks faster showers, don't run either the laundry or dishwasher unless they are full
Of course it's legal, and safe, but the bottled water would cost more than your water bill, besides being pretty inconvenient to try to shower with.
Really? You'll spend 10x as much at least if you try to use bottled water for everything.
You'll spend more on the bottled water. Take shorter showers, do less laundry, fix all leaks.
Bottled water is FAR more expensive than tap water.
