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Water meters are precision instruments built to accurately
measure both large and small amounts of water for many years. Although yours
may look a little different, the dial pictured here is typical of most residential
meters.
1. Leak Detector
A triangle that
rotates, even with very small amounts of water moving
through the meter. If
the triangle turns when all water is off in the house, you
have a leak that should be investigated further.
You may wish to hire a professional to help you
find “mystery” leaks.
2. Sweep Hand
Each full
rotation of the sweep hand indicates one cubic foot, or
7.48 gallons of water, has passed through the meter.
The markings around the outside of the dial
indicate tenths and hundredths of one cubic foot.
3. The Register
Just like the
mileage odometer on your car, these numbers keep a running
total of all water that has passed through the meter since
it was new (this one shows 36,810 cubic feet total).
Subtracting the last read from these numbers will
tell you how many cubic feet of water have registered.
Multiply by 7.48 to get gallons.
What's
in a UNIT?
Water charges are
based on increments of 100 cubic feet of water delivered,
or what we call a billing unit.
One unit equals 748 gallons.
When the meter reader record the numbers on your
meter, he or she disregards the number in black, recording
only the numbers in white (multiples of 100).
In the example above, the read shows on this
customer’s water bill should be 368.
Water
Equivalents Table
| 1 cubic foot |
= |
7.48 gallons |
= |
62.4 pounds of water |
| 100 cubic feet |
= |
748 gallons |
= |
One billing unit |
| 1 million gallons |
= |
3.07 acre feet |
= |
1,337 units |
| 1 acre foot* |
= |
325, 872 gallons |
= |
Covers 1 acre of land, 1 foot deep |
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