Lumberton Municipal Utility District

10/26/2026

What to Do If You Receive a Higher-Than-Expected Water Bill
Receiving a water bill that is higher than expected can be frustrating. Before assuming there is a problem with your bill, there are several steps you can take to help identify the cause.

1. Compare Your Water Usage
Start by reviewing the units of water billed and comparing your usage to previous months. If you do not have copies of your previous bills, please contact our office. We can review your account history and compare your current usage with prior billing periods to determine whether there has been a significant change.
Mistakes can happen. If we discover an error on our end, we will take the appropriate steps to correct it.
It is important to understand that your water bill is based on the amount of water measured through your water meter. An increase in your bill is often the result of increased consumption rather than a change in water rates.

2. Check for Hidden Leaks
When water consumption is unusually high and there is no visible evidence of a leak, a leaking toilet is often one of the first things to check. Even a small, silent leak can waste thousands of gallons of water without being noticed.
For example, a leak of just one-quarter gallon per minute can waste approximately 10,800 gallons in a 30-day period.
If your normal monthly usage is around 7,000 gallons, resulting in a bill of approximately $80, an additional 10,800 gallons could increase your total usage to nearly 18,000 gallons and substantially increase your bill. Without an obvious sign of a leak, this type of increase can be difficult to understand.
Checking toilets, faucets, irrigation systems, and other water connections can help identify the source of unexpected consumption.

3. Understand the Timing of Water Bills
One of the most challenging aspects of investigating a high water bill is that water consumption is typically billed approximately a month and a half after it occurs.
By the time you receive your bill, the leak or other source of excessive consumption may have already stopped. Because the water has already passed through the meter, it is often impossible to determine exactly where or when that water was used.
As a public water utility, we can review your meter readings, compare historical usage, investigate potential billing discrepancies, and offer suggestions to help identify possible causes. However, we cannot directly determine how water was used on your property or repair plumbing issues within your home or business.

We Are Here to Help
Our goal is to provide accurate billing and help our customers understand their water usage. If you receive a higher-than-expected bill, please contact our office. We are happy to review your account, answer your questions, and help you determine the best next steps.
For billing questions, please contact our office during normal business hours. For water or sewer emergencies, assistance is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Thank you for allowing us to serve you.

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10/21/2026

We understand that receiving a higher-than-expected water bill can be frustrating, and we take those concerns seriously. However, it is important to understand that providing water and sewer service involves much more than simply delivering water to your home.
Lumberton MUD is responsible for maintaining an extensive infrastructure system that includes hundreds of miles of water and sewer lines, wells, pumping stations, pumps, controls, storage tanks, and wastewater treatment facilities. That infrastructure must operate reliably every day, in every season, and during emergencies.
Our rates are structured around water consumption, with higher usage tiers carrying higher per-thousand-gallon charges. Sewer service is also billed separately. Our goal is to keep rates reasonable while ensuring the infrastructure, treatment, maintenance, and emergency response necessary to protect public health and provide dependable service.
If a bill seems unusually high, we encourage customers to contact our office so we can review the account, verify the recorded consumption, and help identify possible causes, including leaks or increased household usage. When someone gets a higher-than-normal bill it is almost always because of high usage. Each service has a meter and records the amount of water flowing through it. When water consumption is unusually high and there is no visible sign of a leak, a leaking toilet is often the culprit. Even a small, silent leak can waste a significant amount of water over time without being noticeable. A good example is ¼ gallon a minute leak will add up to 10,000 gallons to your normal usage over the course of the month.
We will always take a customer's concerns seriously. At the same time, responsible utility management means balancing affordable rates with the real and increasing costs of operating, maintaining, and replacing the infrastructure our community depends on.

Our responsibility is not just to provide water today. It is to ensure that safe, reliable water and sewer service will be there for our community tomorrow.

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09/03/2026

We are working on the wells currently, we were getting low pressure calls scattered across the District. The system is increasing pressure slowly. Please be patient we are still assessing what happened. So sorry for the inconvenience.

09/02/2026

I don’t think I could put into words just how incredibly proud I am of our staff, but I’ll try.

Last night was a long night, just like so many other storms and natural disasters are for us. While most people are trying to stay safe and dry, our staff is right in the middle of it—crawling into places most people would never want to be, working soaked, muddy, freezing or hot, and doing whatever needs to be done to keep the water flowing. Behind every running faucet and every toilet that flushes are people who showed up and made sure it stayed that way.

That reliability doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not just the equipment—it’s the people.
These guys don’t hesitate. They show up, get to work, and do what needs to be done because they know our community is counting on them.
They’re our coworkers, our friends, our work family, and your neighbors. They are the people behind the scenes taking care of Lumberton MUD every single day.

**Thank you for the nights nobody knows about, the emergencies nobody sees, and the sacrifices few will ever fully understand.**

So, if you see them out there, give them a wave, say a little prayer for their safety, and remember: If your water is still flowing, there’s a good chance your Lumberton MUD staff are out there making sure it does. 💧💙

09/01/2026

Another perspective from the 2nd basin floor pour from last week.

09/01/2026

We will be closing the office at 3:30 today to let our office staff get home before the weather gets rough. We will be here if you need us, just call 409-755-1559.

08/28/2026

Another great job by everyone involved in the second basin floor getting poured.

08/28/2026

Another great job by everyone, worked all through the night getting the second half of the foundation poured.

07/24/2026

Help me wish Doug Johnson congratulations on his retirement!
Doug has been with the District for 25 years he will truly be missed.
We wish you well in this new chapter in life and we hope that you leave a few fish for others to catch in the lake.

05/13/2026

The foundation went in without an issue. You can see they worked all through the night in the time lapse video. Thanks to ALLCO, Modern Concrete and all of the other sub contractors for doing an amazing job planning and preforming this large foundational pour.