Until they can do that, they dont get a meter. Then when these other services are discontinued those meters are removed by the utility that owns the meters, not the customer. After you establish a system's ERU quantity, you can use it to determine the number of ERUs for other types of service connections. HT A: This is an issue weve been talking to TCEQ about as far back as 2004. Additionally, many systems didnt want to maintain extended meters and lines within the private property, because in several cases working on these lines proved too intrusive on peoples private property and roads. The one meter per residence just means that a customer can't have two or more residences or businesses on a single meter. The systems and engineers said that if these old dormant tap locations wanted to be re-serviced and if upgrades were required, the present landowners where service had previously existed would have to pay for those upgrades. pc#P3C"!GB448]o_ AtCCk*AC)ADc90cLrU Furthermore, Section 290.44(d)(4) states that, each community public water system shall provide accurate metering devices at each residential, commercial, or industrial service connection for the accumulation of water usage data. Section 290.38 defines a connection as a single-family residential unit or each commercial or industrial establishment to which drinking water is supplied from the system. Including this language in a notification letter to all utility customers will help explain why the system is requiring a change for existing multiple connections. e. The Corporation shall require each Member to have a cutoff valve within 2 feet of the meter on the Members side of the meter for purposes of isolating the Members service pipeline and plumbing facilities from the Corporations water pressure. or ESFC- shall mean the amount of capacity allocated to a commercial customer expressed in terms of the amount of capacity used by a single-family residence, as determined by the volume and type of wastewater discharge. <20> <7E> <0020> ~A%b u;_K[O]u?__KVX?p5~5Ka%K}>k47Z=j{u__t You should review this situation with your engineers. endstream endobj 340 0 obj <. NSF 61 states that all components and materials used to cast or create the water works material/parts not contain any banned substances and that the meter, pipe, and/or parts have been properly constructed with the appropriate base materials. )-__@u{{z"|RDQG|G2`4Y M6 oaomo[^W[zWJ+wCV <81> <81> <2022> As it relates to the propertys location within or outside of a city, or its participation in any government-assisted or subsidized housing programs, it will be the owners responsibility to notify any necessary authorities of the new source of water, if required, since the system is merely supplying potable water to the property from a master meter. (This cut-off valve may be installed as a part of the original meter installation by the Corporation.). Q: How important is the NSF 60 certification on meters or does it even matter? Q: We have several members who have second living residences at their home, but only one meter. H|T0WQNd(>3IQb= The corporation will disconnect without notice if the member refuses to allow access for the purpose of confirming the existence of such condition and/or removing the dangerous or hazardous condition (30 TAC 290.46(i) and 290.46(j)). Institutional 4. Is this a fool-proof verification? <7F> <7F> <2022> <8B> <8B> <2039> <8A> <8A> <0160> This has an added benefit that the customers will be required to maintain their own service lines from the meter to their houses. If they want service at a new location, they must purchase another membership and meter tap, and comply with all the new service application procedures. 1 begincodespacerange Other TCEQ inspectors have assessed the capacity requirements on the 2-inch meter size which industry standards deem to be eight times the normal capacity of the 5/8 x 3/4-inch meter, regardless of the number of trailers on the other side of the meter. end %%EOF The capacity is being used either way, and these new meters and customers are utilizing their share of the systems resources. These existing capacity components were and are being paid for through monthly water rates. A: Master metered accounts are typically used when a landowner wants a single meter to provide water service to multiple buildings, apartments, offices, trailer spaces or other types of business activities. 0000002796 00000 n -C BiOUuI jL33Vl4N2ZMA z&;~^*9KDzBW~Q(p7rp>dIi=7}%I~y[$+q_3i-#yzqwTxj/,Rz@S| (~x@dn Id like to offer an observation though, based on the information from the TRWA Sample Tariff. Some systems try to solve this issue by installing remote read meters (AMR) that allow the employee to drive by all the meter locations and the meters transmit the readings to a base unit in the vehicle. (7#~mz*B TwIewVq_kgcQyQ4Jd/ K3E\_%9=G$#. endstream endobj 1 0 obj<> endobj 2 0 obj<>/XObject<>/ProcSet 79 0 R>> endobj 3 0 obj<>stream TCEQs Chapter 290 requires a meter to accurately determine the usage of each customer unless a master metering arrangement has been made. If the main water line(s) are near the public roads, then the system may offer to move the meter down to the road. X1'H`7g3a*|f{h00eiF` BVb`+c0 z^ Q: I am aware of the rule that requires meters to be located on the property being served. <93> <94> <201C> The inspector may also require the customer to demonstrate or show how water pipes at the secondary home are independent of the piping serving the customers primary residence. <9B> <9B> <203A> The WSC board can amend the water rates at any board meeting where rate adjustments are posted as an agenda item for action. A new membership fee should be required for each new meter. The original member will pay all costs associated with a new meter installation as if they were a new customer, since they are a new customer at this new location. 0000005203 00000 n Email: info@trwa.org, Water University/Utility Management Certification, TCEQ Requirement All Occupational Licensing, Wastewater Technical Assistance & Training Program, Click Here to Return to the Ask Larry Archives Homepage, Metering & One Meter per Residence Rules (Ask Larry). Q. Published in May/June 2020 (Issue 3 of Quench). <88> <88> <02C6> Should not effect transit. developed and used to calculate the Impact Fee per Equivalent Single Family Connection (ESFC). An eight-inch (8") water main will generally be required to distribute water and provide fire protection within the multi-family district provided that the water main does not exceed 600 feet in length or serve more than two Billable flow (B 1 + B 5) 7. Q: What is the purpose of the restriction on multiple connections to a single tap rule? Some systems opt to offer discounts to customers that have multiple connections or to waive impact or other front-end capital improvement fees. The larger the meter, the greater the amount of system capacity that must be kept in place for that meter. Do you have a source for best practices when planning to deal with this issue? But the continued headaches and future problems will not be worth the bad public relations this can cause if anything happens to the service line or meter that is on someone elses property. 4Ct?3,RPapG}=>V"vIzJ*m'_ Q: A member of our WSC has two water meters on his property. \"L&h6AKm5 ZydZ P*dGLr)9 3 Language establishing the utilitys ownership of customer service meters runs throughout TRWAs model tariffs and service policies. What can we do if the owner of the membership denies that someone is living at the second residence? One of the main reasons for a turbine or propeller master meter to register incorrectly is improper piping configurations from the well to and past the meter location. If a system has a trailer park, RV park, apartments, and so on being served by one meter, the TCEQ doesnt count it as one connection but either counts the number of spaces being served or calculates the capacity needed by size of meter. Assuming the meter is the standard size, residential 3/4 x 5/8 meter, you will use the same rate structure for the irrigation meters since the water is the same treated water that is being distributed by your system. By doing this, when they get a few more meters, they can begin replacing the meter tops with these newer AMI tops. /Supplement 0 12 dict begin While the board of directors is keeping the old monthly charges and rates, we only have a base rate for 1 -inch meters. endbfrange Since the two businesses have separated and are no longer on the same property, then the convenience store is diverting water to another property, which constitutes an illegal connection or transfer of water from one property to another. This includes design, review and approval of all plans and all on-site and off-site service facilities by the corporations engineer and compliance with any applicable municipal or other governmental codes and specifications. <9E> <9E> <017E> <84> <84> <201E> This letter should outline the PUC requirements for an accurate metering of water per connection. /CIDInit /ProcSet findresource begin LIVING UNIT EQUIVALENT (LUE) GUIDANCE DOCUMENT Definition: A living unit equivalent (LUE) is defined as the typical flow that would be produced by a single family residence located in a typical subdivision. 0000001107 00000 n endobj First, the one meter per residence language should be part of your tariff or service policy. PUC rules also specify the requirements for language that must be included in the rental agreement regarding submetering, how the charges are to be calculated and how billing is to be conducted. All public water systems that hold CCNs (or are required to hold CCNs) must plan upgrades to the system when a facility, including distribution lines, reaches 85 percent of total capacity so that the improvement or upgrade is imminent or already in place once the facility item under consideration reaches 100 percent capacity. If there is reason to believe a dangerous or hazardous condition exists, the corporation may conduct a customer service inspection (CSI) to verify the hazardous condition and may notify the local county health office. In fact, there are laws about meter tampering, damage and diversion if a person is caught or found guilty of messing with a utilitys meters. 0000001312 00000 n I have also seen frustration when the front property owner requests a second meter from the system and the line is at capacity. The best way to verify whether a customer has a prohibited second connection is by performing a new customer service inspection (CSI). <83> <83> <0192> << The capacity requirement is driven, in part, by the maximum potential amount of water that could be pushed through that meter on a peak day. The average daily flow for domestic use shall be calculated at the minimum rate of 100 gallons per day per capita (gpdpc) and an Equivalent Residential Connection (ERC) of 2.5 persons per single-family residence and 2.2 persons per multi-family and mobile home units.. I am not aware of any legal or state regulations that would prohibit this, but I caution your board to look at every conceivable contingency and try to address them before agreeing to this free meter reading offer. First, the customer must supply the system a final plat showing the intended use and ultimate development of the property to be served. {Y 9w,r, 6Q@4Og)nF9c"|A""?__ovt^o_dM`L2,s54#Pj0 Whatever the reason for requesting a second or third meter, they get irritated when they are denied the other meter (or told they will have to pay the cost of paralleling the line) while the person behind their property is enjoying a meter on their property. 0000000766 00000 n Your board should look at all the different access related issues at customer locations and define in your tariff what the system considers to be reasonable access to the meters. %%EOF These previously existing meter locations had already paid for or been granted capacity from the water main, and therefore they should not be required to pay for system upgrades. Think of it this way: what if that property owner was requesting not one meter, but four new ones? endstream endobj 4 0 obj<>stream Only the labor to reinstall the meter, a new customer service inspection fee, the BPAT test if there was a backflow assembly there before, and the refundable membership fees could be charged to the new applicant at that previously served location. Connections may be described in terms of single family equivalent connections, living unit of equivalents, or any other generally accepted unit of consumption typically attributable to a single family household. <91> <92> <2018> Where to live in Delft Wedged between The Hague and Rotterdam, Delft is a beautiful historical town that attracts those seeking a quieter lifestyle with good city connections. In the case of choosing a meter read system, we suggest that the meter supplier provide you with a list of systems that uses their meters so your system can check out the pros and cons with other systems that are using the meters. 363 0 obj The TCEQ interprets an "active connection" as a connection that is completed or existing and able to supply drinking water from the PWS to a single-family Fax: 512.472.5186 The elimination of external parts should reduce the need for re-reads due to malfunctions. Commercial 5. n``N}@:\_EF-_*p"X;9$W'}',vl#A7.9J uph%(+u n'8i b9XAH03047:|clf`. <8A> <8A> <0160> That availability to use that capacity should be paid for, but not by tacking the costs onto existing customers. I was told the meter was installed when a relative lived in a trailer on the far end of the property, but the meter has not been used for many years. It doesnt matter whether the extra capacity is used to supply brand new customers who have never had service or to existing customers seeking an additional meter. /Supplement 0 Do I need to calibrate the meter?