How you can read your meter

To help you understand how much water your home or business uses, you will want to know how to read your meter. This also will help you to identify leaks and discover ways to conserve water.

Step 1: Find your meter box, which is typically located in the front of the property near the street. It is housed in a concrete box. Carefully remove the lid by using a tool such as a large screwdriver. Insert the tool into one of the holes and pry the lid off.

Step 2: Once you open the meter box lid, lift the protective cap on the meter. On the face of the meter there is a large dial and a display of numbers. Read the number display from left to right. This is your meter reading. All LCWSD meters measure water in gallons. Charges for the amount of water consumed are based on the number of gallons you use during a billing period. Compare that reading to what your bill states as your current or present reading. Next Steps:Keep in mind that you might be checking your meter on a date different from the one used for billing. This could result in a difference in the amount you find, compared with the amount on which your bill is based. However, if your reading is considerably higher than what is on your bill, then use the tips for checking for leaks or try to determine the source of large water use.

How LCWSD reads your meter

AMR(Automatic Meter Reading) Sensus RadioRead® features the most robust, high-powered radio frequency transmitter available for drive-by automatic meter reading systems. Sensus has over a century of experience providing cutting-edge, reliable products. Products that streamline operations, enhance customer service, enable conservation and allow our customers to manage their resources more effectively.

 

• Greatly reduces time to collect readings
• Reliable equipment – Radio and battery have 20-year warranties, plus they are built utility-tough and capable of withstanding harsh environments
• Multi-meter compatible – Equipped with Sensus MultiRead modules, each unit can handle up to 16 individual meters
• All of LCWSD’s water meters are read using Automated Meter Reading (AMR) technology which requires just one employee and takes approximately only six seconds per meter. Even faster if weather conditions and location is ideal.
• It used to be that one employee would drive while the other employee jumps in and out of the truck and physically read each meter, taking an average of one minute to 3 minutes per meter depending on the conditions of the meter box, whether it had debris, water or whatever in it, per meter. With the AMR as the employee drives the route, wireless radio transmissions are sent from the Vehicle Transceiver Unit (VXU) to the AMR meters which instantly record the data and sends it back to the VXU. The information is then downloaded from the laptop into our billing system for calculation. This not only saves time but increases the reading accuracy greatly by eliminating the human error factor.