How to Access the Water Meter

Series Summary

In a world where resources seem to be scarce, the environment is feeling the effects of civilization, and mankind has lost his connection to nature, we need to be reminded that not everything is on demand, built to order, and ready to wear. As residents of the planet Earth, and more specifically as homeowners, renters, squatters, and wanderers, we need to get back to the idea of understanding the ground under our feet, building with the contours of the countryside, and reacquainting the non-farming individual with his roots in subsistence farming.

One step in this direction, although a small one, would be to learn how to make our homes more Earth-friendly and green by conserving water. In these free videos our experts, two ladies who have been involved in city level water management and conservation for years, will show you how make your residence more water efficient. They’ll give you tips on where to look for leaks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as how to inspect the kitchen and bathroom for water overuse, adjust the hot water heater, and when to water your lawn for maximum effectiveness.

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Cathi Pare with the City of Santa Barbara Water Resources speaking to you today for expertvillage.com. We are speaking about water efficiency in the home and one of the best things to do on a regular maintenance level is to look for leaks. You may not know that you have one and how do you find it? Use the tools that you have. The best thing you have is your water meter. It always has a leak detector, it measures water that is running through even if you don't know it. The water meter is almost always in a concrete box right next to the street and there it goes around the street. Its in the concrete box on the street. You are going to need to bring a tool; a screwdriver or even a little gardening tool and the top of it you open it up and when you look inside, there is a metal meter. You are going to lift the lid on that and you will see what looks like a clock face. The majority of these look like clock faces and in just a second we are going to show you the register, I am going to show you a leak detector, leak indicator on here and how to recognize it and then how we are going to slowly walk from the meter and isolate whether or not there is a leak. Is it in your supply line going to your house under ground? Is it in your irrigation system? We are going to take a moment and we are going to go inside and go through each of the different rooms in your house where there are some plumbing fixtures and see if maybe we can find where that water is running. "