California Targets Private Property With Latest Water Well Fees, Charges: Report

[ultrarunner]

State Laws now requires water meters...

It was a huge expense for districts like South Lake Tahoe because water was flat rate and lines deep...

It took years of digging everything up to install meters and they learned many cabins used almost zero water over a year so the meter fee went to $150 a cycle and water use $1.50 a unit?

Sometimes we just add to the complexity and overhead with no real benefit... similar for areas in Sacramento where much is flood plain.

 

[ponytug]

State Laws now requires water meters...

It was a huge expense for districts like South Lake Tahoe because water was flat rate and lines deep...

It took years of digging everything up to install meters and they learned many cabins used almost zero water over a year so the meter fee went to $150 a cycle and water use $1.50 a unit?

Sometimes we just add to the complexity and overhead with no real benefit... similar for areas in Sacramento where much is flood plain.

You are right tat many of the cabins at Tahoe didn't use much. So for many customers, metering didn't add much value, but for the water providers metering does help reduce water losses from pipe leaks. In a resource constrained, low water supply area like California, including Lake Tahoe, it does make sense I think to know where and what for the limited amount of water is being used. I think that applies to both Tahoe and especially to Sacramento where there were substantial losses due to pipe leaks. (Also to EBMUD, but that is a different story.) For the vacation "mansions" up at Tahoe monitoring the water use, and therefore the resulting pollution in the form of nitrates and phosphates has had significant benefits in the form of being able to identify the gross users/polluters who are doing things with significant environmental impact, like large heavily used septic systems and large lawns at the lakeside. Given the nonexistent soil around Lake Tahoe, there isn't much in the way of bioremediation in the soil, so the wastes end up in the lake. The Tahoe area probably needs to switch to three stage aerobic digestion of the sewage with phosphate absorption. I believe the area around Stockholm recently switched to something similar, and for similar reasons of not having much soil to speak of.

Lake Tahoe used to have incredible visibility, and it doesn't now due to the phosphate and nitrogen loads from the septic systems and fertilized lawns... "Keep Tahoe Blue"

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

The area is modest cabins mostly from the 50’s

Sewer went in 1966 and septic filled neighborhood wide.

I just looked and so far this year 1 unit water billed… last year 2 units and 2020 zero units but discontinuing service isn’t viable because to start service is like building a new home hookup in fees.

No lawn… just a few pines.

Do have a water/sewer district issue trying to resolve in that new water mains severed our sewer but did not realize until camera sent down the line.

I’m sure living there full time it would have been noticed while crews still in neighborhood… now it’s been years…

 

[ponytug]

The area is modest cabins mostly from the 50’s

Sewer went in 1966 and septic filled neighborhood wide.

I just looked and so far this year 1 unit water billed… last year 2 units and 2020 zero units but discontinuing service isn’t viable because to start service is like building a new home hookup in fees.

No lawn… just a few pines.

Do have a water/sewer district issue trying to resolve in that new water mains severed our sewer but did not realize until camera sent down the line.

I’m sure living there full time it would have been noticed while crews still in neighborhood… now it’s been years…

Yikes! New meaning to the phrase "leach line". I hope that it wasn't too bad to discover the issue and have it fixed. I'm glad to hear that the septic tanks in the area were removed. Getting all of the wastes into one system makes the remediation of sewage more practical. There are now cost effective ways to reclaim phosphate from sewage in sewage treatment plants.

I have a vivid memory of when my grandparents got hooked up to the sewer and the installation crew filled the old septic tank with sand. There was this flood of brown that came pouring out of the septic tank. No, not human waste. What looked like millions of ginormous cockroaches.

All the best,

Peter

 

[oosik]

All this talk of added meters so there is exact billing. Four years ago our electric utility went to telemetering. Your house meter transmits to a centralized receiver which then retransmits to the utilities home base.

I'm so remote they had to put an amplified transmitter on my house meter.

Now this is the type of technology I can appreciate. No longer have to go out - read the meter - send an email, with this reading, to the electric utility.

 

[deserteagle71]

All this talk of added meters so there is exact billing. Four years ago our electric utility went to telemetering. Your house meter transmits to a centralized receiver which then retransmits to the utilities home base.

I'm so remote they had to put an amplified transmitter on my house meter.

Now this is the type of technology I can appreciate. No longer have to go out - read the meter - send an email, with this reading, to the electric utility.

Just be aware that those new electronic meters with the transmitting ability don't last very long.

My utility went to those several years ago. Last year my power suddenly quit. Power company tech came out and changed out my meter. Told me these new meters last on the average of 6-8 years before going bad; he kept several on his service truck because he changes them out constantly as the older ones quit.

 

[WM75Guy]

I can think of no bigger waste of water than a golf course. I understand that people want to play, but you can't always get what you want... especially during a drought.

We have cities that have built golf courses to dispose of the treated water from the sewer plant. It was cheaper than the alternative pipeline. The golf course land below the sewer plant was not desirable for any other development. And the course makes a profit since it doesn't have to pay for water.

 

[oosik]

Just be aware that those new electronic meters with the transmitting ability don't last very long.

My utility went to those several years ago. Last year my power suddenly quit. Power company tech came out and changed out my meter. Told me these new meters last on the average of 6-8 years before going bad; he kept several on his service truck because he changes them out constantly as the older ones quit.

For sure deserteagle. The first telemetering meter went TU while the utility man was still on site. I noticed - he had several of those units in his truck.

 

[ultrarunner]

Just be aware that those new electronic meters with the transmitting ability don't last very long.

My utility went to those several years ago. Last year my power suddenly quit. Power company tech came out and changed out my meter. Told me these new meters last on the average of 6-8 years before going bad; he kept several on his service truck because he changes them out constantly as the older ones quit.

Tenant called no hot water…

I spent time troubleshooting and found no gas flow… I asked if the bill was paid and they said auto pay and then checked.

Turns out the new 3 year old meter had shut off the flow.

The service truck had two racks… ready to install and defective said that is how he spends most days.

The old meter installed in 1957 never a problem but it was not smart like the one one installed in 2017.

 

[California]

Would you rip up your lawn for $6 a square foot? Welcome to drought-stricken California

The megadrought affecting the American West has been record-breaking, with no tangible relief in sight. It's forcing cities to crack down on lawn-watering, and paying residents to replace their lawns with drought-resistant plants.

www.cnn.com