(A) Required; exception. All water supplied by the city shall be supplied through sealed meters only, except as otherwise specified in § 1048.08, and shall be paid for at the rates and in the manner specified in Chapter 1048.
(B) Responsibility to report lack of meter. If a water consumer does not have a water meter, he or she shall advise the city of the condition. Failure to do so will result in the person’s water service being discontinued in a manner provided by law.
(C) Purchasing; type. All water meters must be purchased through the Waterworks and Sewerage Department. The kind and pattern of the meters shall be as determined by the Mayor and Council, and no other kind shall be installed or used.
(D) Location. A water meter shall be placed in the basement of a building where service pipes enter the same, so as to afford easy access for examining and reading. Where there is no basement, the meter shall be placed in a tile or concrete box inside the curb line not more than one foot from the service cock. The box shall be so constructed as to amply protect the meter against frost and must be easily accessible to the employees of the Waterworks and Sewerage Department.
(E) Access by authorized personnel. The Director of Public Works, any person authorized by him or her and any meter inspector shall have ready access to the premises, places or buildings where meters are located for the purposes of reading, examining, testing, repairing and replacing the same, at the discretion of the Director of Public Works or other authorized person; examining and testing the consumption, use and flow of water; and ascertaining the number and type of water and sewer connections. No person shall interfere with, prevent or obstruct the Director or other person or Inspector in his or her work. Every consumer of water shall take the same upon the conditions prescribed in this chapter.
(F) Repair and removal; cost of installation.
(1) After a water meter is placed, only officers or employees of the Waterworks and Sewerage Department are allowed to repair, remove or in any other manner interfere with the same. A stopcock or valve shall be placed on each side of the meter.
(2) The cost of the water meter and the installation thereof shall be paid by the applicant or the owner of the premises where the same is placed.
(3) The repair or renewal of a water meter shall be done at the expense of the Waterworks and Sewerage Department, except that the owner of or applicant for a meter is responsible for any damage done to the meter, including that done by freezing, heat or breakage and for theft thereof.
(G) Replacement of frozen meters. A property owner shall be charged a fee, as set forth in § 1444.01(B)(37), for replacement of a frozen water meter.
(H) Remote meters.
(1) A resident or property owner may have installed, at his or her request, a remote water meter, which shall only be installed, repaired, removed or in any other manner interfered with by officers or employees of the Waterworks and Sewerage Department. The meter shall remain the property of the city.
(2) The cost of the meter shall be paid by the applicant or the owner of the premises where the meter is placed. The Department, however, shall adjust the cost when the present meter is in disrepair.
(I) Damaging; report to city of defects.
(1) No person shall injure, deface, mar, destroy or in any other manner interfere with a water meter.
(2) The owner of or applicant for a water meter shall promptly notify the Waterworks and Sewerage Department of all defects in a meter or its failure to properly register the quantity of water used.
(Ord. passed 3-8-1982; Ord. passed 8-9-1982)