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Your water meter is underground in a
rectangular box with a metal or cement lid, usually found in or
near the sidewalk. To get to the meter, you can remove the cover
with a large screwdriver.
Sweetwater Authority water meters record
water use in terms of cubic feet. One cubic foot of water is equal
to 7.48 gallons. Our bills are based on how many hundred cubic
feet (748 gallons) each customer uses.
Sweetwater Authority has one basic type of water meter. This water meter is read like an
odometer. Simply read the number across the counter (see diagram
1).
To determine your water use, compare your
reading to one taken a week later at the same time of day.
Subtract the first reading from the second to find out how many
cubic feet of water you have used. Multiply this figure by 7.48 to
find out how many gallons of water you are using each week, and
divide the result by 7 to determine gallons per day. An average
home in our service area uses about 121 gallons of water per day
per person.
To find out how many 100 cubic foot
billing units you have used since your last bill, disregard the
last two digits on odometer style meters, and ignore the bottom
three dials on circular-read meters. Record the remainder of the
reading, then subtract the “Current Read” amount from
your last bill. “Average” households use about 26.6 units in two
months.
For example, if your meter read 36,710
cubic feet today and 36,890 seven days later, you’ve used 180
cubic feet of water. Multiply 180 times 7.48, and you will find
out you used 1,346 gallons during the week. 1346 divided by 7
yields a daily water use of 192 gallons.
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