Water and Pollution Control Department

Will a yard meter save me money?

A yard meter is a second water meter that is installed to measure the water that is used outside the house. Since this water is not discharged to the sanitary sewer system, the yard meter offers a way to reduce the sewer billing portion of a utility bill. Yard meters are placed downstream of the master meter, and the water used through the yard meter is subtracted from the master meter consumption when calculating the sewer charge. Detailed requirements for installing a yard meter is available by clicking here.

To find out if having a yard meter makes sense for you, you'll need to do a little basic accounting. First, figure out how much installing a yard meter will cost you, then compare that to how much it might save.

Costs to be recovered:

Minimum monthly charge $2.75 (times 12 months = $33 per year) for a typical residential yard meter. Large installations may have a higher minimum bill.

Meter setting fee $200. This may also be higher for larger installations.

Plumber’s cost ????? The amount of plumbing work necessary to install a yard meter is unique for each location. The only way to find this out is to call two or three plumbers and have them give you a written quotation.

Savings:

Sewer charge on water is $1.55 per 100 Cubic Feet (or 15.5¢ per cubic foot)

In order to recoup the minimum monthly charge, you would have to use

$33.00 / $1.55 per 100 Cubic Feet = about 2100 Cubic Feet each year

In order to recoup the meter setting fee, you would have to use

$200 / $1.55 per 100 Cubic Feet = 13,000 Cubic Feet

After these costs and the plumber’s costs are recouped, you will start saving money.

Outside water use can be estimated from your consumption history. By comparing your water usage in the winter (December, January, February) to your usage in the summer (June, July, August), you can estimate your outdoors water use. This can give you an idea of how long it will take to recover the cost of a yard meter.

An irrigation system will usually make a yard meter cost effective.

Sample Calculation

When estimating how much water you may use outside, you can follow this example.

Sample lot measuring 80 X 125 = 10,000 square feet.

Established yards usually need 1 inch of water per week.

With a 3-month watering season and 4 weeks per month this is 12 inches or 1 foot per year.

Applying 1 foot of water to 10,000 square feet is 10,000 cubic feet used outside per year.

Year 1
- $200	Meter setting fee
- $250	Plumbing modifications*
- $ 33	Minimum bill
+ $155	Sewer savings on 10,000 cubic feet @ 1.55 per 100 cubic feet
- $333	End of year net cost
Year 2
- $ 33	Minimum bill
+ $155	Sewer savings on 10,000 cubic feet @ 1.55 per 100 cubic feet
- $211	End of year net cost
Year 3
- $ 33	Minimum bill
+ $155	Sewer savings on 10,000 cubic feet @ 1.55 per 100 cubic feet
- $89	End of year net cost
Year 4
- $ 33	Minimum bill
+ $155	Sewer savings on 10,000 cubic feet @ 1.55 per 100 cubic feet
+ $33	End of year net savings

* This price is used for illustration purposes only. It should not be considered a typical or appropriate fee. The best way to make sure you get a fair price is to obtain quotations from two or three reputable plumbers.

Understanding the sample calculation

For the example shown above, the homeowner begins to save on the sewer charge immediately, but does not recover the initial installation costs until the fourth year.

Garden hoses will use 4-8 gallons per minute (.5-1 cu ft/minute). To use 2400 cubic feet would take 2400-4800 minutes, or 40-80 hours. Spreading this out over a three-month period (12 weeks), this is 3.3 to 6.6 hours per week of watering with a garden hose just to break even on the minimum monthly charges.

You should also keep in mind that the amount of watering shown above is really a worst-case example. Many weeks the 1-inch of water needed will be supplied by rainfall. You should take this into account when estimating what your actual savings might be.