Was talking to someone today about shutting off the water to the house. He had to go to the box near the street and shut it off. I mentioned that my meter and shutoff are in my basement. He was perplexed about how the utility has access to my meter to read it (wireless technology) but also how can they shut it off.
Good question. How does the water company shut off my water if I don’t pay? How do they do it for people with access boxes in their yards?
Also, what are the determining factors for having water meters and shutoffs inside the house versus in an underground box outside?
My friend is in Oregon and I’m in Ohio so I think it might be climate that determines but I’ve never dealt with an Ohio water meter besides my own so I don’t know where other peoples’ are at.
There’s almost always a shutoff on the street in addition to the one in your house. They’re usually both required. A lot of meters in the house are read remotely with wireless technology as you mentioned. In areas where the temperatures go below freezing meters outside the house can be a problem. Without remote reading a lot of localities estimate water usage for monthly billing and then adjust periodically with a true reading.
I also have a meter and shut off in my basement. The water company has a shut off in my front yard if you dig about six inches down. It shuts off the water at the main line.
You are most likely mistaken that the only shutoff to your water supply is inside your home next to the meter. There is a b-box located somewhere between your house and the city watermain, typically in or near the parkway.
To clarify: The water company sends out an employee to shut off the water. They walk around a bit with one of those magnetic locator things and a can of spray paint and locate the valve cover. They then dig up and remove the cover. They use one of those long T-handled “keys” to reach down 3 or 4 feet and turn off the water.
Six inches down may reveal an access cover, but the actual valve is likely to be several feet underground, below the frost line. You usually need a special long-handled key to reach it.
Some shut-offs, like mine, don’t need to be dug out. Mine sits up about 6 inches, more or less, on the boulevard. I have to mow and weed eat around the damn thing.
I can vouch for this. When I was in college, we paid our water bill as part of our rent, and the landlord paid the city on our behalf. A few weeks before the lease was up, well, the city came out and turned off the water. When we called and asked, they said it was because the water bill hadn’t been paid in 4 months. Of course the dear sweet landlord (ha!) claimed it was definitely the city’s bad bookkeeping and not her keeping the cash for herself.
She sent her handyman to turn it back on, and he used the tool linked above to open the valve. We decided that was probably not legal, but we were moving out in like 10 days so we weren’t going to question it. The water got turned off and back on twice more before we moved out. Stayed way the hell from the property after that.
That was going to be my next question - how does the water company keep you from just turning the water back on at the street? If a homeowner can turn it off there (maybe not me, but my friend in OR can), how does the utility keep people from just turning it back on like YJC’s landlord did?
My renter didn’t pay the water bill and the water company closed their valve. The renter went out and turned it back on. At that point I paid his water bill, for the company said the next step was to remove the water meter, and I would have to pay for it’s re installation when I got the bum evicted and another tenant who would pay his rent.
As mentioned from the main distribution line each lot/house has underground side lines that send water to your house. Each of those side branches has a (usually) underground valve located somewhere in the utility corridor. This strip of property often includes the first few feet of your yard or lawn, which a lot of people don’t realize because towns just let you sod it and do whatever. But when they need to come shut of your water or dig down to replace the valve or perhaps part of the gas distribution system they’ll just roll up and start digging up what you might believe to be your lawn (I know because I used to be a utility operator and shut off lots of people’s water for various reasons).
Good companies will let you know they are sending someone over, less caring utilities won’t bother if they technically don’t have to (eg my wife sent me an angry text just a few days ago about some guy who just walked up and started digging away at the base of the light pole in what-she-thought was or front yard, and I reminded her of what I said above).
I’ve read about some places (usually warmer ones) also putting water water meters outside in shallow boxes. But around here most water meters are inside the house. There is an additional shut-off valve inside near it so you can turn off water yourself for plumbing repairs or to change the water meter; your utility company will usually send someone in to do that and when I did the job I went into dozens of people’s basements just to change out meters.
Older meters had a wire running from them out to a display on the outside of the house which is how the reading was taken. Really old meters had an actual visual dial that a person would read and record numbers from, newer ones are read with a small hand-held device that reads the number from the outside sensor (which still has to be physically touched). The newest water meters have small antennas that wirelessly broadcast the reading out to the street where a passing vehicle has a reader that automatically communicates with and records the meter reading.
Most everyone enjoys the newest meter technology best, since its much faster and more accurate than the old days of walking door to door and writing down numbers from an odometer that may or may not be working. Meter readers in particular like not having to walk into 6000 different back yards every month and dealing with whatever the owners have tied up or laying around.
But when you don’t pay and ignore the shut-off notifications, it’s a simple matter of sending out a worker to locate, dig up, then use a special (though simple) tool to reach down and shut off your supply valve. If you manage to turn it back on they’ll know by reading your meter and the next person they’ll send out will be a peace officer to charge you for tampering with the utilities.
The shutoff valve inside my house froze (not temperature type freezing; mechanical). I asked our plumber what to do. He explained there was a shutoff valve likely buried somewhere on our front lawn but that only the town was allowed to use it. I had to arrange for someone from the town to come with the key. On the front of the house there is a small number 28 painted. This meant that if you come forward from the point where that is painted by 28 feet, you will find the valve. The guy from the town paced off 28 feet and started digging. A half foot or so down he found a cap that he could pull off revealing a long shaft that went to the valve. He took his key (which was really a wrench on a three foot shaft), turned the water off and the plumber went to work, cut off the old inside valve and replaced it and a short length of pipe. Then the guy from the town opened the valve again, the plumber tested everything and that was the end of the story.
A few years ago, they replaced the meter (next to our inside valve) with a remote reading meter so they don’t have to send someone inside the house every year to read it.
Like Machine Elf’s schematic shows, the outside valve on a water service is called a “curb stop” (because it is traditionally located in the vicinity of the curb). In actuality, it is usually located at or near the property line (which is typically 5-10 feet behind the curb).
There is another valve for each water service right at the water main, called the “corporation stop.” This valve is not operable from the surface – you have to excavate to access it. The corporation stop is used when the water service is replaced or permanently cut off to a property. Both stops are usually ball valves.
As for homeowners turning the water back on after it has been shut off for non-payment, this is handled just like any other theft of service. In addition, note that many water utilities are municipal in nature, and can put a lien or even foreclose on the property in question for nonpayment (but only after a long and arduous process).
