Water metering: is it worth it?

A faucet that leaks only one drop per second can waste 2,304 gallons of water per year. A faster leaking faucet can waste over 13,000 gallons of water per year. A constantly running toilet can waste as much as 6,000 gallons of water per day. Unnecessary flushes waste five to seven gallons of water each. A shower head without a water restrictor uses twice as much water as a shower head with a water restrictor.

Every gallon of water that goes down the drain costs money. And now, drops equal dollars as the City raises frontage rates as an incentive to encourage water metering.

It used to be that City calculated water taxes based on frontage. Traditionally, frontage tax rates have been low, but with the City's budgetary challenges, the move is on for individual water metering based on actual water usage and tax rates to be calculated accordingly.

The question is whether or not water metering will save your building money over the old frontage formula, or whether metering will increase your building's tax costs. And the answer is hard to determine until the meters are actually installed.

After the examining a building's population density and age, and the type and age of water fixtures in the building, it may be recommended that the building take advantage of the City's "Window of Opportunity" Program, which allows buildings to install their own water meter ahead of the City's Bureau of Water Register schedule. Even if it is determined that water metering may not represent a cost-savings to the buildings, it will most certainly be appropriate to take watersaving measures building wide. These may include the installation of shower head and faucet flow restrictors and toilet tank dams, the repair of even small leaks, the replacements of large-capacity washers with washers that have fewer rinse cycles, and other such measures.

When the City finally does get around to requiring water metering for all buildings, water taxes will be calculated solely of the basis of usage or waste. Foresightful owners would do well to begin promoting water-conservation education and building-wide programs for residents so that when meters are eventually installed, residents will be already accustomed to turning off the faucet while they brush their teeth. In the meantime, your Darwood manager can arrange for an inspection of your building to determine how water metering may affect your building's finances now and in the future.