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My neighbor and I walk almost every day in Nanawale. We notice at times a perpetual wet spot, sometimes with running water going down the streets. That gets us thinking why do we accept the fact that county is happy to put in meters on the main roads but we home owners have to maintain the lines from the meters to the homes.
In our examples, we have 1/4 mile of water line that potentially will break! What does it take to get county to install meters in front of the homes? My neighbor has received a $1700 water bill in the past for two months of water usage. A broken line that she was unaware of until the bill came. We have heard other neighbors shocked to see $4000 over two months.
Anyone have any ideas?
He who hoots with owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning.
He who hoots with owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning.
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My suggestion: learn how to read your water meter, know what your average usage is and check the figures every so often to make sure everything is normal. The minute something looks weird, call a plumber or the water department. Seems to me that if pipes are leaking enough to run up $4,000 over two months, the homeowner would notice a drop in water pressure at the tap - another sign that something's amiss.
Why should the county be responsible for maintaining pipes on your private property? If there was a problem on your property on "their side" of the meter, how would they ever know about it? Problems in main lines become pretty evident because they cause big disruptions, but as you mention, the comparatively small lines to homes can have leaks that aren't apparent from the surface. So county water customers (or maybe even county residents as a whole, including those of us who don't have access to county water) would have to eat the cost for all the ongoing undetected waster waste as well as the cost of maintaining all those extra miles of water lines on private property.
I think a more realistic solution would be for the county to enact some sort of "customer protection program," where you could decide to pay an extra monthly fee as an insurance policy, and if problems did occur, the program would cover the cost of the water wasted. It might also cover the repair of the pipe, though they might need to have a sliding scale so that people with shorter pipe runs would pay less than people with longer runs.
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Wow...After reading that .....I'm glad that I have catchment!
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quote:
Originally posted by KeaauRich
My suggestion: learn how to read your water meter, know what your average usage is and check the figures every so often to make sure everything is normal. The minute something looks weird, call a plumber or the water department. Seems to me that if pipes are leaking enough to run up $4,000 over two months, the homeowner would notice a drop in water pressure at the tap - another sign that something's amiss.
Why should the county be responsible for maintaining pipes on your private property? If there was a problem on your property on "their side" of the meter, how would they ever know about it? Problems in main lines become pretty evident because they cause big disruptions, but as you mention, the comparatively small lines to homes can have leaks that aren't apparent from the surface. So county water customers (or maybe even county residents as a whole, including those of us who don't have access to county water) would have to eat the cost for all the ongoing undetected waster waste as well as the cost of maintaining all those extra miles of water lines on private property.
I think a more realistic solution would be for the county to enact some sort of "customer protection program," where you could decide to pay an extra monthly fee as an insurance policy, and if problems did occur, the program would cover the cost of the water wasted. It might also cover the repair of the pipe, though they might need to have a sliding scale so that people with shorter pipe runs would pay less than people with longer runs.
Thanks, Krich , but did you notice I mentioned our "private water line" is 1/4 mile from the meter to the house? The lines run along roads not owned by us which means any heavy construction equipment running on other properties could pretty much destroy our lines if driven over. Yes, catchment would be less worrisome but the house was purchased with this crazy set-up with the county and now I am trying to find some way to improve on it. It just seems to me that if county is selling us water, then why didn't they put the meters on the edge of our property, not a quarter mile away. The seller never disclosed that little tidbit of info when I purchased the house.
My neighbor and I spent a weekend digging up and exposing our lines every 500 feet and put shutoff valves on our lines. We did that little job so that if we do get a leak, we can trouble shoot easier, going section to section to find where the repair is needed. And we do check the meters weekly. Since we are downhill from the meters, the water pressure doesn't significantly change to be noticeable to the owners (testimony I have heard from three neighbors). The scary thing is that the original lines installed by previous owners are not very deep in some areas and albizias growing on other owners properties are pulling up our lines. Crazy, insane setup!
I was hoping maybe if enough people with a similar problem gather around we can find some resolution to this problem. I used to live in a district that had a water coop. We bought water from the county but the subdivision installed the meters and lines, each home owner being responsible for the installation at their property.
And a discussion with the water dept. about some kind of insurance would be a great idea. We'll look into that, too.
He who hoots with owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning.
He who hoots with owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning.
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You can add your own meter to your water feed line. A simple meter is not a very expensive item.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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I live in Nanawale as well and this a problem I fear I will have to face at some point. The previous owners told me that the lines broke three times during their ten years here. Each time they had to find the leak, dig it up, and repair it themselves. They put in valve shutoffs each time in hopes that makes finding the leak easier. Doesn't sound like fun. My meter is also about a 1/4 mile away. My hope is that I will be able to put in a catchment system, before another leak happens.
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Yep, I'd take Rob's suggestion and put a meter inline after the water meter ... Maybe a wireless one so that it can be read by a computer ...
Only other way is to dig up the entire line and put down schedule 40 2" to run your pipe in. That would protect it, tho probably overkill. But beats paying 4K bucks and take out the worry. You could even put in a moisture detector in the middle of the pipe. There are probably other ways... like wrapping the pipe with moisture sensor tape or even possible installing moisture sensing line along side under the pipe but I would guess every time you get a heavy rain it's going to alarm.
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If you have both catchment and County water, they will require a vacuum-breaker to avoid any possible contamination of the County supply from your catchment.
Supposedly this happens with "both on same TMK", even if the systems are completely isolated (as in a standalone ag catchment that isn't even plumbed to your County-connected house).
I am not sure how "automatic" this is, could be only for "enhanced scrutiny" and/or "complaint-driven" situations, in which case you might also need permits for the catchment.
Sustainability at its finest!
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Well, it happened unfortunately. We got a leak in our water line. After spending three days digging to find the leak and repairing it, we discovered another leak somewhere else down the line that has yet to be found. Oh what fun. How much does a catchment system cost to install?
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Rich, this situation happened to a friend of mine. He noticed no drop in pressure, only the $4000 water bill! His line is about 1/4 mile long along a public road. The line was shallow and parked on by others often. He fought to reduce the bill and paid about $4000 to replace the line with a more durable pipe encased in 2" pipe and covered in sand. He also built a wall around the meters on county property. I wonder who gives the rights to homeowners doing work on county property, namely replacing the water line and building a wall.
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