×

City sets deadline for switching water meters

Work must be done by March 31 or service is stopped

Wrapping up the city’s meter replacement project, Marietta’s water department has run into a couple hurdles in the last year.

The most pressing though is that roughly 200 Marietta water customers will be without water service by month’s end if they continue to refuse to have their meters replaced.

“We’ve been doing this project since the end of March last year and we still have some customers refusing to make an appointment to change to our digital meter, a process which only takes a couple minutes once you set the appointment,” explained the city’s utility administrator Kim Nohe. “We’ve begun to mark curbs to turn off their service for those last handful who haven’t responded.”

The reason for the heat?

“The old system will no longer be supported, so our only other option will be to estimate your bill and that estimate will be on the high end to make sure we’re covering costs,” said Nohe.

The other problem has centered on old plumbing and a significant jump in water expenses for some.

“We have some people who have experienced double or triple the water bill they were used to before the change-out to the new digital meters,” said Nohe. “Some of that is just because their old meters were 10 to 12 years old and not adequately reading their usage, but for about 1 percent of our customer base it’s been a different issue.”

Plumbing changes over the years done in-house or exceptionally old plumbing in old homes across the city have lacked the installation of adequate mechanisms, namely back-flow check-valves and hot water expansion tanks.

“What’s happening in some homes is that when the hot water tank kicks on to begin warming up the water some of that flow is pushed through past the meter,” explained Water Superintendent Jeff Kephart. “But without a back-flow device and expansion tank to create a closed loop, that water has been flowing back past the meter and so some people have gotten charged twice for the same water.”

Nohe said though the number of customers actually experiencing this problem is small, her office has been providing customers in need of a remedy with half the solution.

“If we find a customer that has needed the check valve we provide that equipment for you and you have it installed,” said Nohe. “You still need to have an expansion tank installed on your dime, but once that is done we will verify that it fixed the problem and we will let one billing cycle go through so we get an accurate read on your actual usage and I can credit the excess to your sewer bill.”

Kephart said he had budgeted in this year’s financial plan for the water department to provide the check valves for water customers.

“I put $3,000 in our operating budget to cover the cost since the device through our vendors runs about $28 a piece,” he explained. “An individual on their own would be spending about $40 for the same piece.”

Though the expansion tank is an expense homeowners would have to cover themselves, Kephart said the price of a tank runs no more than $50.

“But it is important for people to know that you have to have an expansion tank with the back-flow device,” he said.

For questions about a property water bill or to schedule an appointment for meter replacement call the utility billing office at 740-373-3515 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

At a glance

¯ The Marietta Water Department will be shutting off water for all water customers who have not changed over their water meters to the new digital system by the end of March.

¯ Of the city’s 6,700 commercial and residential water customers, approximately 200 customers have still not scheduled an appointment to change out their water meter.

¯ Approximately 1 percent of the city’s water customers have experienced a back-flow issue after their water meter was changed, causing water bills to double or triple.

¯ The issue can be resolved by contacting the water department at 740-373-3515 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Source: Marietta Utility Administrator Kim Nohe

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.15/week.

Subscribe Today