SUNDRE — Residents who have any questions about their billed water consumption rates are encouraged to contact the municipality to address concerns.
But first, local officials recommend people should check to see whether they might have, for example, a silent, slowly leaking toilet or dripping taps, which over the span of a month can substantially add onto a household’s consumption level.
Chris Albert, Sundre’s director of corporate services, said last week that staff found nothing out of the ordinary in response to a couple of recent concerns that were called in.
“We have had a couple of people who phoned in and inquired about their bill,” said Albert, adding he could not discuss specific details on individual cases.
But he encouraged anyone who has questions or concerns to call the town office at 403-638-3551.
A few people have recently come into the Town of Sundre’s municipal office to have their bills reviewed, and everything was “in line with what we’d expect,” he said. “From our perception, there’s nothing wrong with our services, system, or meters.”
Jim Hall, Sundre’s operations manager, said last week that his department and staff had not received any direct requests to come have a look at any meters.
“The billing department will probably be dealing with that on a case-by-case basis,” said Hall.
“I haven’t received anything.”
However, there are times, he added, when people might feel their bill has gone up substantially one month as a result of a malfunctioning meter. But the devices are designed to by default favour the consumer in the event of a failure, which are rare, he said.
A water meter uses what essentially amounts to a turnbuckle that spins as water flows through. So if it wears out and stops spinning or slows down, water still continues to pass through, but without actually registering the volume, he explained.
Although Hall said he had not recently received any requests from administration or residents to investigate any possibly faulty meters, he said his department is prepared to help where and when possible.
“We’re not plumbers, but we could look at finding a leak,” he said.
Even a subtle toilet leak that people might not be aware of could be the culprit responsible for a big jump in monthly consumption, he said.
“It is amazing how much water that is over a 24-hour period,” he said about a slow leak. “And you barely hear it…more often than not, that seems to be it.”
Albert echoed Hall’s comment that a meter only registers the water flowing through, and that any malfunction would indicate less water being consumed, translating to a lower bill.
“If it was broken, it would slow down more than speed up,” said Albert.
That being said, he added the municipality has over the years upon request had water meters checked and tested.
“We do charge a fee for that; it’s costly for the town to do that.”
If the meter is indeed malfunctioning, he said the municipality would not only refund the fee but also even reimburse any imbalance discovered in the bill.
However, he said such requests are infrequent, and of the few that do come in — there have not been any recently — none of the meters tested to date have come back as malfunctioning.
“Meters aren’t usually wrong,” he said.
Nevertheless, anyone who thinks there is a problem should, after first checking for leaks elsewhere, contact the town office, and “we’ll help walk through your bill.”
