Meter Services is responsible for the replacement, repair, reading, and testing of the City’s water meters. Meter Services works in conjunction with Customer Service to investigate and resolve customer inquiries concerning high water usage, meter reading irregularities, and leak detection.

Meter Services can:

1. Ensure your meter is accurately recording the amount of water being billed.
2. Ensure your meter has been read accurately.
3. Identify a constant leak.
4. Check pressure and flow.

Meter Services cannot:

1. Identify an intermittent leak.
2. Tell where in the residence water is being used.
3. Come into your residence to investigate a problem.
4. Recommend any repair company.
5. Authorize any billing adjustment.

High Water Consumption

Two of the leading causes of unexplained high water consumption in a residence are a garden hose/irrigation system and a leaking toilet.

1. A fully open garden hose or residential irrigation system could use 10 to 22 gallons of water per minute. On the high side, this would equal 1,320 gallons of water an hour, or 31,680 gallons of water a day. For an irrigation system running one hour a day, 3 days a week, the monthly usage could be 15,840 gallons of water.
2. A leaking toilet running at ½ gallon per minute could use 21,600 gallons of water in a month.

In some cases, Meter Services may be able to electronically profile water usage to show the customer when and how much water is being used.

What the customer can do:

Irrigation system:

1. Routinely check the irrigation system to ensure all sprinkler heads are attached and working properly.
2. Check sprinkler programming to ensure the frequency and duration of each zone is at the desired setting.
3. Don’t forget the garden hose. Set a timer to remind you when it is time to shut the hose off.

Toilet:

1. To check for a slow leak, remove the water tank cover and add food coloring or dye tablets. Wait 30 minutes and check the water in the toilet bowl. If the color seeped into the bowl, you have a leak. The two main causes of a leak are an improperly adjusted float or a faulty flapper valve. If water is flowing over the overflow/refill tube, a float adjustment is probably required. If water is not flowing through the overflow/fill tube then the flapper valve is probably at fault. A slow leak may be caused by a broken flapper valve or a buildup of material on the flapper valve that does not allow the valve to seal. This is usually fixed by replacing the flapper valve.
2. A fast leak is typically caused by the flapper valve not reseating after flushing the toilet. This may be caused by an entangled pull chain or an obstructed flush handle. In many cases, the immediate problem can be solved by moving the flushing handle up and down and allowing the flapper valve to drop. Further adjustment or replacement of the flapper valve may be required to prevent a reoccurrence.

    

Water Leaks

Water leaks may be caused by faulty fixtures or appliances, leaks in the water supply line from the meter to the residence, in irrigation lines, or in the City's main or service lines. Meter Services can verify if the leak is the City's responsibility or the customer's. A leak on the City's side will not affect the customer's billing, as only the water going through the meter is billed. A leak on the customer’s side may cause an increase in billing and needs to be identified quickly. Meter Services can typically identify a constant leak on the customer’s side of the meter, but may not be able to pinpoint the location of the leak. Intermittent leaks are harder to find, and usually require the customer to investigate.

Maintaining a safe and adequate public water system is the responsibility of all who use or work on the system. It starts with protecting our water sources, testing and purification at our water production facility, maintenance of the water distribution system, and the use of qualified and licensed individuals for installations and repairs.

For more information or questions you may contact Meter Services at 972.219.3510.