Reading Your Water Meter

You want to do your part to help conserve our natural resources. And, you want to save money. Monitor your water use by reading your meter; help preserve the environment while you save money.

Why You Should Read Your Meter

There are several reasons why you'd want to be able to locate and read your water meter. First, you might be interested in just how much water you use in a day. By reading your meter at the beginning and the end of the day, you can compare the two totals which tell how much water you and your family used. The second reason is to check for leaks. If you turn off all the taps in your house, look at your meter and it is still turning, chances are you have a leak somewhere.

How to Read Your Meter

Your meter is located outside, usually directly in front of your house. To access your meter, simply remove the meter box cover.

There are two common types of water meters. Some are read like odometers, as shown in the figure on the left while others are circular with several dials on the meter face as shown on the right.

For circular-reading meters, start with the lowest dial, in this case marked 10, and continue reading counter clockwise up to the highest dial.

If a dial pointer isn’t centered exactly on a number or is located between two numbers, read the lower number. The circular dial on the right reads 80632.

Meters are not usually reset between readings. To find out how much water you’ve used in any given period, just subtract the reading on your last bill from the current meter reading.

One cubic foot equals 7.5 gallons. If your meter reads 80632 cubic feet today and 80812 cubic feet seven days later, you’ve used 180 cubit feet of water. Multiply 180 times 7.5 to find the number of gallons of water used during the week (1,350).