LeakBird

 
I came across a fascinating and informative document on a recent meeting between some associates from the University of Washington and the Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) regarding water rates and billing in Seattle.

The document’s notes cover a wide gamut, but basically I learned seven things that I think any landlord or property manager in Seattle would find useful:

 
1. 10% of All SPU Customers have Leaks They Don’t Know About: This is a fairly startling fact, and from extensive research we can estimate that the majority of these leaks, perhaps 90%, are occurring in toilets.

 

2. Seattle is a Leader in Sub-Metering: There are a dozen sub-metering companies in Seattle, mostly for large apartment buildings, which help landlords and property managers provide more accurate water billing to their tenants.  This, in turn, helps them to hold their tenants accountable, but sub-metering is cost-prohibitive.

 

3. Seattle has Some of the Most Expensive Water in the US: Water is billed by consumption, meaning it’s on a tiered or block rate system, like other cities, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

 

4. Seattle is Experimenting with Automatic Meter Reading Systems: Most municipalities are moving to automatic meters.  In Australia, they’ve actually put remote readers on garbage trucks, which take the data from the automatic meters as they drive by, transferring it to the water utility.  Pretty nifty!

 

5. Seattle Owns All Water Supply Channels in the City: The city takes care of all pipes running up to the juncture of privately owned buildings.  Hence, it’s easy for leaks to occur on properties and go undetected for up to 60 days, but the SPU is very forgiving of these kinds of underground leaks.

 

6. The SPU’s Biggest Challenge is Peak Water Demand in the Summer: Water bills go up 20% in the summer.  Reservoirs get quickly depleted.

 

7. Most SPU Customers aren’t Motivated to Reduce their Water Bills, Unless there is Serious Financial Incentive: This is a question the SPU is looking deeply into, that is, how to financially motivate their customers to save more water.  Perhaps this kind of motivation needs to come from the private sector.

 
If you are interested in How You Can Increase Your Cash Flows by $2,500.00 Every Year and Never Pay for High Water Bills Due to Your Tenants’ Running Toilets, sign up for our Free Report here.

Abendigo Reebs is the VP of Business Development for LeakBird Industries LLC in San Francisco, CA. He may be reached by email at ben@leakbird

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