How do I Read an East Bay MUD Water Meter?
East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), also known as East Bay MUD, provides drinking water to homes and businesses in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in California. Your water meter rests beneath a cement cover located near the curb at the front of your home or business. Your water meter is one of two types of meters: a "Straight-Reading" water meter with a single horizontal line of number wheels showing the amount of water in cubic feet, or a "Round-Reading" water meter with multiple clock-style dials that individually provide a part of the overall amount of water being used in cubic feet. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Straight-Reading Water Meters
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1
Look at the front of your meter under the word "CUBIC FEET" for a line of six side-by-side number wheels.
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2
Read the line from left to right. Typically, the number starts with one or more zeroes---depending on the amount of water used since the meter's installation (for example: the number might read 009233 cubic feet of water).
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3
Ignore any zeroes at the beginning and the two numbers at the end. For example, with 009233, ignore the "00" and the "33" when reading the number. East Bay MUD measures water usage and bases charges on units of 100 cubic feet only.
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4
Write down the remaining number. In the example, this equals 92 units.
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5
Look at your previous bill. Subtract the number on the last bill from the current number of units. For example, if 82 units are billed on the previous bill, the difference is 10 units.
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6
Multiply 10 by 748 gallons of water, because each unit equals 748 gallons. The final total is the amount of water used between meter readings. In the example, 10 units is equivalent to 7,480 gallons.
Round-Reading Water Meters
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7
Locate the "100,000" clock-style dial on the front of your meter. If your meter has a "ONE FOOT" dial, the "100,000" dial is above it. If your meter has a blank dial with an arrow, the "100,000" dial is to the left of it.
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8
Write down the number that the needle points to on the dial. If the needle rests between two numbers, write down the smaller number. For example, if the needle rests between 6 and 7, write down 6.
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9
Record the numbers from the other dials in order, working your way around the meter from left to right in a clockwise fashion, from the "10,000," "1,000," "100" and "10" dials. When finished, you should have a five-digit number. For example, the number might read 62,933 cubic feet.
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10
Ignore the last two digits of the number, as East Bay MUD only measures in units of 100 cubic feet. In the example, the reading is 629 units.
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11
Look at your previous bill. Subtract the number on the last bill from the current number of units. For example, if 620 units were billed on the previous bill, the difference is 9 units.
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12
Multiply 9 by 748 gallons of water, because each unit equals 748 gallons. The final total is the amount of water used between meter readings. From the example, 9 units is equivalent to 6,732 gallons.
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