Your water meter is generally located near the curb in front of your home in a direct line with the main outside water shut off valve and faucet. It can be embedded in the drive way, walk way, grass, dirt or anywhere else near the curb. It is housed in a concrete box usually marked “WATER METER.”
How to Open the Water Meter Cover
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. We do not recommend using your fingers.
Visually examine the area around the meter to make sure there are no harmful insects or other animals before placing your hands in there, if necessary.
How to Read Your Meter
The water pictured above is typical of most residential meters. The register on the meter serving your property may look somewhat different, but they all work on the same principle.
Anatomy of the Water Meter
Odometer
To read your meter, look at the straight row of numbers on the dial. Read the first 5 numbers from left to right. The last two numbers can be ignored, as they represent a fraction of one billing unit and will not appear on your water bill. The number are a running total of all the water that passed through the meter, since it was installed.
Flow Indicator
The silver circular piece in the middle is the flow indicator. It rotates whenever water passes through the meter. The flow indicator will rotate faster or slower depending on the volume of water passing through the meter meaning that you may need to watch the flow indicator carefully if trying to determine a leak. The flow indicator should not be rotating, should be stopped, if no water is running anywhere on the property.
Dial
The large sweep hand measures gallons of water as it passed through the meter. A full revolution indicates that ten gallons has passed through the meter. A full revolution indicates that ten gallons has passed through the meter.
For instance, the meter in the picture indicates a little less than 2 gallons have flowed since it reset when the sweep hand reached zero.
To calculate the amount of water used within a certain time period, you would subtract the meter reading taken at the beginning of that time period from the meter reading taken at the end of that time period. This will give you the total amount of gallons used.
How to Monitor Your Water Use
The following steps will show you how to determine how much water you use over a period of time.
- Read the odometer and write it down completely. Then write down the date and time you read it. After a period of days read the odometer again and write it down and write down the date.
- Subtract the first reading from the second reading. This is your water use in cubic feet during the period.
- Divide the water use in gallons by the number of days between readings. This is your average gallons per day during the period.
You can also compare the current meter reading to your last water bill versus waiting for a second reading. This is helpful in determining if there is abnormal water usage which may indicate a leak.
- Subtract the current meter reading from the water bill current reading. This is your water use in cubic feet during the period.
- Using the “Service To” date, determine the number of days up to the current reading date.
- Divide the water use in gallons by the number of days between readings. This is your average gallons per day during the period.
Serrano Water District (SWD)
The Serrano Water District provides potable water to the City of Villa Park and a small portion of the City of Orange. SWD receives its water supply from local surface water which is stored in Irvine Lake and groundwater from three wells located within the City of Villa Park. SWD sells up to approximately 2,900 acre feet of water annually, to its residential customers.
