IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING WATER METERS
Why You Must Install a Water Meter
BY LAWRENCE SCHATT, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER Department of Environmental Protection
This is to advise you that under the terms of a court-ordered agreement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), all properties in New York City are required to have a water meter installed. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will be issuing notices to all properties where there is no record of a water meter being installed. Properties which are not metered will be issued a surcharge in their 2000-2001 annual frontage bill. The surcharge will double your annual charges.
If you already have a water meter or do not own the property, the customer should call DEP, 718-595-7000 to prevent incurring a surcharge. If you do not have a meter, you must either:
1) have a DEP contractor install a meter, or
2) have a meter installed by your own licensed plumber.
The Water Board will permit your qualified residential multiple dwellings of six or more units to remain on annual flat-rate billing after the water meter is installed, until the owner would like to be billed on the meter. This provides an opportunity to determine which form of billing is beneficial to the property.
How to Get a Water Meter Installed
There are two ways to get a water meter installed. Choose one of the following:
1) A DEP contractor will install the meter at no cost to you. Just call 718-595-7700 to request a meter installation or fax your request to 718-595-7245. Please provide the address, account or block/lot number, contact name and telephone number when you make the request. If the request arrives after January 1, 2000 DEP will work to fulfill it, but it cannot guarantee that requests received after that date will be fulfilled in time to prevent a surcharge. You will not receive a surcharge if you requested a meter installation before January 1, 2000, and you are cooperating with metering efforts, but the installation of a meter has been delayed due to technical problems which DEP must resolve. Please note that such technical problems do not include piping in bad condition which the customer must have repaired before a meter can be installed.
2) You can hire a licensed plumber yourself to install the water meter and be reimbursed up to the market rate for a meter installation. For more information on the Reimbursable Metering Program, you may visit DEP's website at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/dep/ or fax your request for a booklet to 718-595-7245 or call 718-595-7700. A listing for licensed plumbers can be found in the Yellow Pages. Make sure the plumber you choose has a current, valid license. This can be checked with the NYC Department of Buildings at 212-312-8217.
The installation of a water meter can help New York City conserve water and spread costs more equitably among the users of the system. Rather than paying an annual water and sewer bill, which is an estimate of how much water is typically consumed in a building like yours, meter-based billing allows you to pay only for the water actually used in your property.