Does that home you just inspected have a water meter?

[Bob Elliott]

Not so fast.
No water meter and you told your client that is a good thing?
When municipalities estimate your bill they may not be doing you any favors.
Turns out that in Chicago where quite a few homes have no meter they are often charged double what the neighbor with a meter pays.
Meters were not required till 1984 here but are offered free.
Most do not want them thinking they are getting away with something.
Here is today's story on it in the Sun Times.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2...ater01.article

[Steve McRae]

The town I live in does not have water meters. We just get billed a flat rate on the electric bill, but it's about $780 per year with water and sewer.

[Bob Elliott]

So when there is a leak how would they ever know?

[Christopher Currins]

When municipalities estimate your bill they may not be doing you any favors.
Turns out that in Chicago where quite a few homes have no meter they are often charged double what the neighbor with a meter pays.

I wonder how many millions they've made off of that?

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by ccurrins

I wonder how many millions they've made off of that?

Well Daley has warned people and sent out letters that meter installation is free ,but people always figure they are getting away with it you know.

[Steve McRae]

Originally Posted by belliott

So when there is a leak how would they ever know?

How will the home owner know?
When I get business up an running, I can come out and check the plumbing system during a Maintenance Inspection for a fee

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by smcrae

How will the home owner know?
When I get business up an running, I can come out and check the plumbing system during a Maintenance Inspection for a fee

My point should have been that with a meter you only pay for your use but if you are estimated then you and those being estimated will share the cost of all water wasted in a street leak that goes unnoticed.

Read the article as it explains that part pretty well.

[Eric C. Van De Ven]

Originally Posted by belliott

So when there is a leak how would they ever know?

When a swimming pool suddenly emerges where their front yard used to be!

[Jeff Merritt]

Leaking 40,000 galons per day

The major culprit in many U.S. cities, Chicago included, is aging water infrastructure. Most of Chicago’s water mains were installed between 1880 and 1930, at a rate of 75 miles per year—and at a time when cast-iron and yes, hollowed out logs, were occasionally used as pipes. Not surprisingly, a lot of them have overrun their lifespan and need to be repaired or replaced.
Rates of replacement have ranged from 14 miles per year in the ’80s to 40 miles per year in the ’90s. In the past decade, the city has endeavored to ramp up replacement to 70 miles per year, a move that water department spokesman Tom Laporte says has kept the city’s water consumption rate relatively stable despite an increasing population. Although the Department of Water Management was unable to estimate a rate of daily water lost from the old pipes, Water Commissioner John Spatz estimated at a water forum in October that replacing 75 miles per year for the next six years alone would save the city 40,000 gallons of water per day.

[David P. Valley]

A missing water meter in a home in Massachusetts is a red flag.

I can remember one home where someone installed the water meter after the boiler. That means that the homeowner was getting free heating water for years. I simply wrote it up.

A meter reading is performed before every RE closing.

[Daniel Henderson]

My house in Gatineau doesnt have a water meter. We dont get charged proportionately for the water we use. It hidden in out property taxes

[Jeff Merritt]

Typical Chicago two flat two lead lines no meter