As of May 2018, all houses have “Smart Meters”, which collect data hourly, and send it in once a day. If you want to see your water use immediately, such as if you are trying to track down a leak, you can do so by looking at the meter itself. Contact the Cooperative if you need help locating your meter.
- Lift the black plastic lid (on the ground, about 12″ in diameter). These are not locked, so you can use a water meter key (from Home Depot or Lowes) or just a screwdriver. Some of the lids fit tight, so may take a little effort to lift.
- In most cases, mounted to the bottom of the lid is a device (called a cellular endpoint), about the size of an orange juice can. This is a stripped down cell phone, with a battery and electronics, so be a bit gentle, and not drop it on rocks.
- Down in the hole is the brass water meter, with a gray unit on the top, called an encoder. This has a hinged cover that you’ll have to flip open.
- The encoder display cycles through four modes:
- Reading (stays the longest, 45 seconds) is the number of gallons, since the meter was new, down to hundredths of a gallon
This number, as of the end of each month, appears on your water bill. - Reading, divided by 10 (stays for 5 seconds)
This also has, in the upper right corner, a series of moving segments that indicate if there is any current flow, comparable to the leak indicator on a mechanical water meter. - Meter model: always d 25 9 (stays for 5 seconds)
- Current flow, in gallons per minute, down to hundredths of a gallon (stays for 5 seconds)
- Reading (stays the longest, 45 seconds) is the number of gallons, since the meter was new, down to hundredths of a gallon
- When you’re done, please close the cover of the encoder to keep dirt off the display. And be a little careful about putting the wires to the endpoint back in the hole when you replace the lid.
