(A) All applicants for service shall be deemed to have consented to receiving such service and agreed to comply with the rules and regulations of the Department. All applicants for water service shall be required to accept such conditions of pressure and service as are provided by the distribution system at the location of the proposed connection, shall provide devices to protect their water plumbing and equipment from damage due to high or low pressures, pressure conditions or interruptions of service, and shall agree to hold the city harmless from any damages arising out of either low or high pressure conditions or interruptions of service.
(B) Applicants may obtain service on an active service connection by contacting the Department by telephone or in person. If the applicant requests service be turned on less than one hour prior to the close of business, legal holidays excepted, the applicant shall pay an after-hours service fee. The after-hours service fee shall be established by resolution of the City Council.
(C) All applicants shall be required to establish credit with the city by providing a social security number and/or tax identification number. The city will electronically verify this information with a third party agency for accuracy and fraud prevention. In the event that an applicant does not have a social security number or tax identification number, the applicant must present a passport and/or other official identification from his or her native country which will then be verified. Suspicious information will be reported to the Police Department for investigation. During the verification process credit will be checked to determine if a cash deposit equal to three times the average monthly bill shall be required from an applicant prior to the initiation of service based on the applicant's credit-worthiness, pursuant to the Department’s policies.
(D) If an existing service connection is found to be inactive at the time of application, which may include but not limited to, damages to the connection and/or replacement of the meter, an assessment will be made of the service connection and a fee will be charged on a time and material basis to recover the cost of reestablishing the service to an active status.
(E) A new account setup fee shall be charged to offset the cost of creating accounting and computer records, reading the meter and/or turning on the service and will be included on the first utility bill of all new accounts. If additional utility services, such as reclaimed water or electric, are also added, separate fees will be assessed for each service. The new account setup fee shall be established by resolution of the City Council.
(F) Customers requiring a continuous water supply shall provide their own emergency storage of water.
(G) Except as provided in this chapter, each parcel, lot, or residential unit (including but not limited to single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments) must be provided with a separate service connection and city water meter, provided that the requirement for a separate connection and meter shall not apply to multi-family residential units for which a certificate of occupancy has been issued prior to February 4, 2009, or multi-family residential projects in which every unit is affordable to very low-income, low-income, and/or moderate-income households, as defined in which affordability covenants that have been recorded for every unit or will be recorded prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Any violation of this requirement shall be sufficient cause for the Department to discontinue the service until the violation is corrected. In the event service is discontinued, a fee established by resolution of the City Council shall be paid in advance for reconnecting the service. Two or more houses under one ownership and on the same lot or parcel of land may be supplied service through the same meter; provided, however, that the Director shall have the right to limit the number of houses or the area of land under one ownership to be supplied by one service. Except for multi-family residential projects in which every unit is affordable to very low-income, low-income, and/or moderate-income households, as defined in, and as to which affordability covenants have been recorded for every unit or will be recorded prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, submetering of water service is prohibited for all units of housing for which a building permit is issued after February 4, 2009. The city may require the developer of any project wishing to make use of the separate meter exemption for affordable housing contained in this division to execute an agreement to record an affordability covenant for the affected units, and authorizing the city to withhold the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for any unit of housing for which the exemption has been granted but the affordability covenant has not yet been recorded.
(H) The department shall reserve the right to set and maintain a meter or any connection. The customer shall be held liable, however, for any damage to the meter due to negligence or carelessness, and particularly for damage caused by hot water or steam from the premises serviced.
(I) Except as provided in division (M) of this section, no person, firm, corporation or public agency shall make, install or maintain any physical connection between any private source of water supply and the city water supply.
(J) No one, except a city employee or an authorized representative of the Department, shall at any time or in any manner operate the curb-cocks or valves, main cocks, gates or valves of the city water system, or interfere with meters or their connections, or tap or otherwise interfere with mains, lines or other parts of the water system.
(K) The Department shall not be obligated in any manner whatsoever for rental or any other charges of any nature by reason of the location or use of any part of its water or sewer facilities upon the premises of the user, including the location of meters, housing and connections thereupon.
(L) Upon being requested to provide any premises with service, the department shall, at all times thereafter until the service is discontinued and all water and/or sewer facilities are removed therefrom, be authorized to enter in, upon and across any such premises to install, repair, remove, relocate and service its said facilities or any part thereof located thereupon at any and all reasonable times, and to periodically at such times as it deems necessary, read the water meters located thereupon. Any restrictions of these rights shall be cause for immediate discontinuance of service to such property.
(M) The Department shall reserve the right to refuse service to or to discontinue service to any customer when such service, in the opinion of the Director, will be detrimental to the city water system. The Department may require special devices and fittings for backflow prevention and cross-connection control to be installed on the customer's side of the meter at the customer's expense when required by law or when, in the opinion of the Director, such fittings or devices are necessary to prevent contamination of the city water supply, or when the absence of such devices or fittings may degrade the city water system in any way. Failure of the customer to pay for such special devices and fittings when required for existing services shall result in discontinuance of service to the property.
(N) Tampering, theft or damaging city owned equipment and devices is prohibited and the customer shall be subject to all charges associated with replacing or repairing the items in an amount established by resolution of the City Council.
(Ord. 3346 § 5, 2022; Ord. 2975, § 2, 2009; Ord. 2965 § 1, 2009; Ord. 2964 § 1, 2009; Ord. 2947 § 2, 2008; Ord. 2918 § 1 (part), 2007.)