Water Meter Fact Sheet
Become Familiar With Your Water Meter

Learn how to read your water meter to do some quick checking. 10 minutes of time could save us thousands of gallons of water...and money for you. If you live in a home in Hollywood your water meter is located somewhere on your property. Your meter is just underground, below a cover. Lift up the cover, you should see a small hinged disk. That is the meter's protective cover...lift it up also. You will see one of two types of meters. Match your meter to the picture below that resembles it, and follow the instructions next to the picture on how to read your meter.

This meter is difficult to read without instruction. Start at the 100,00 indicator and write down the reading, (if the indicator is between 2 numbers ALWAYS use the lesser number), continue through to the 100's indicator. Disregard the "One Foot" and the "10" indicators and assume this meter only reads in 100's of cubic feet. This meter would be read as 968 cubic feet. The "One Foot" indicator is useful to determine if you have slow leaks. If all the water in your home is turned off and the "One Foot" register is turning, you may very well have a slow leak.

This type of meter is relatively easy to read. The numbers above where it says "Cubic Feet" are the actual cubic feet of water used. The big arrow shows cubic feet used in tenths. This meter shows 123,456.1 cubic feet recorded. The small triangle on the left should signify small leaks. If all your water is turned off in your home and the small triangle is spinning (even slowly), then you have a small leak somewhere.

Your meter does not read in gallons, it reads in cubic feet. There are 7.48 gallons in one cubic foot of water.

7.48 Gallons = 1 Cubic Foot

For Leak Detection

1. Turn off all the water in your house very carefully.
2. Then check the position of the meter dials.
3. Make a note of where the small dials are.
4. minutes later go re-check your meter.
5. If no dials have moved, congratulations No leaks.
6. If anything on the meter changed, time to look closer...
7. You could have leaks.

If you believe you have leaks start checking the following things first - they are notoriously leaky...

1. Toilets 2. Faucets 3. Outside Hose Connections

Toilets can silently waste hundreds of gallons of water a day. The best way to spot toilet leaks is to put a few drops of food coloring in the toilet tank (where all the internal mechanisms are). Wait a few minutes, if the color begins to show up in the toilet bowl - you have a leak Most toilet leaks are at the plunger ball or at the overflow pipe. If you're a competent "do-it-yourselfer" you can easily fix your toilet leaks. Otherwise call a plumber. Leaks cost you money.

TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH WATER YOU USE IN A DAY TAKE A READING TODAY. READ THE METER AGAIN TOMORROW SUBTRACT THE SMALLER READING FROM THE LARGER READING. THAT'S THE AMOUNT OF WATER YOU CONSUMED (IN CUBIC FEET!)