Page 12 - NBIZ MAGAZINE December 2021

Whining About Your
WATER BILL

When I learned we all pay for more water than

received, I did more than just “whine”!

By Tim Crockett

ot many topics apply to everyone, but entering the water supply then, too. Here’s the surprising
paying for water may be one that comes kicker, City Water Meters are volumetric (that is, they
the closest. For years, I helped my simply read volume and falsely read the air as additional
employers increase the value of their water volume). Air is inaccurately read as additional water
Nportfolios. Now, I am on a mission of overstating your bill and costing you money. This happens
educating all property owners about a problem that if on virtually every meter, everywhere, every month!
not corrected can do the same for them. Yet, few are even The amount varies but averages 20%. What is your
aware this type of problem exists. water bill at your home? …at your apartment communi-
We all use water. Some of us pay for it directly, while ty? …at your office? …school? … restaurant? …hotel? …
others of us may assume we are avoiding this cost but in hospital? …grocery store? …church? …carwash? …
reality, are paying for it indirectly through increased rents golf course? Anywhere there is a water meter?
and/or the higher cost of the products and services we Just as Apollo had a workable solution and happy
consume. ending, so, too, one exits here. To understand the solution,
it is important first to understand the why and how.
“Houston, we have a problem.”
This may be one of the most recognized quotes ever A Little Science
made, and just like those words that were spoken from Physics explains that one cannot compress liquid, but be-
Apollo 13, we too have a problem today. The problem is cause it has little mass you can easily compress a gas. Think
that surprisingly most plumbers, property owners, and how the air in a SCUBA tank could fill a much bigger space
managers are completely unaware. when opened. Examples of the power of air are all around us.
The additional cost begins with the fact that water Wind spinning giant windmills, compressed CO2 exploding
naturally contains air and additional air is being added out of a soft drink can, and cavitation shooting out of the
into the municipal water system. Whenever one sees a back of a boat’s propeller. These same things are happening
group of men standing next to a backhoe digging up the inside your water meter, but because it’s in a metal pipe
street to repair a broken water main, additional air is buried in the ground most people don’t think about it. Boyle’s

12 NBIZ ■ December 2021