Disgusted at paying over $1000/year for water, sewer, and stormwater, we decided to take the following steps:
1) Manage stormwater ourselves. Our city provides a slight discount to partially manage stormwater on our property, as apposed to sending downspout water directly into the street. This required some sweat equity (digging, laying pipe) and investing some money on river rock and landscaping. The result is a big improvement that pays for itself.
2) New toilet. Our city provides a $100 credit to upgrade to a WaterSense toilet and recycle the old water hog.
3) Low-income discount. I was surprised to see our family qualified for this significant discount.
4) Conservation. Each family member typically showers every other day, and we only flush urine after two or more people have contributed.
Now our water bill is negative $96 and I project we will not need to pay our water bill for the next year or two. I hope this inspires some readers to save some water and money!