How to read a water meter

Reading a water meter is not everyone's favorite thing to do monthly. Understandable. Following these helpful steps will save you and our clerk the our time with billing mistakes which cost both parties.

Two styles of meter faces that you will discover in your meter pit are either an "analog odometer" style meter face or a "digital meter."

If you have an "analog odometer" style meter face, the white numbers are "thousands" and the black numbers are "hundreds"
If you have a "digital meter," look below the numbers and you will discover a black line and a white line. The numbers above the black line are "thousands" and the numbers above the white line are "hundreds". At the end of this article are examples of various meter face pictures.

Steps to read a meter:
It will greatly help to have a rag on a stick, with pen and paper to annotate the reading. If you use a smart phone to take a photo of the meter face, be cautious of not dropping the phone in the pit. 

1: Remove the meter pit lid and foam pad
2: Flip open the meter face cover lid
3: Read the white numbers which is thousands or millions if that much water has gone though the meter. If digital read the numbers above the black line.
4: Close meter face cover, reinsert the foam pad and replace the meter pit lid. Ensure pit lid and foam pad are correctly installed. This crucial step can prevent your meter and setter from freezing in the winter months. Damages due to this will be charged to the customer.
5: Click the below pictures for examples.
6: This link provides further explanations on reading water meters and leak detection. http://www.smarthomewaterguide.org/