Condo Media - April 2021 - 30

Water Service Sub-metering: A Case Study

The association has a diverse ownership. There are seniors living alone as
well as families of up to four people.
In 2015/2016, the association water
bill was double what it was in 2014,
reaching approximately $60,000. Since
water is a shared expense and there
was no way to know individual usage,
unit owners were responsible for their
share according to percentage of ownership, not usage.
WATER-SAVING MEASURES
In response to this increase, the association board called a meeting to review options. The main suggestion was
installing low-flow toilets. Unit owners
would purchase the toilets and the
association would fund the installation.
Low-flow toilets would reduce water
usage, but not solve the accountability
problem. Units with more residents
would continue to utilize more water -
more flushes, showers, hand washing,
laundry, dishwashing, etc.
At the meeting, Sweeney suggested
installing individual water meters for
each unit. The building's plumbing
architecture would support individual
meters because main water supply
pipes branch with a single pipe supplying water to each unit. This is an
absolute prerequisite to using the submetering solution.

Photo of individual water line entering the unit
from the left.

Sweeney went to Inspectional
Services at Lynn City Hall and to Lynn
Water and Sewer to investigate any
possible objections. Both informed
her that they thought it was a " great
idea, go for it. It has nothing to do

CONDOMEDIA April 2021

with us. " Lynn Water & Sewer was only
concerned about reading their meters at
the two main water entrance points to
the building. The individual unit meters
would be considered sub-meters and
would not be their responsibility.
FINDING A SOLUTION
A talented researcher who does not give
up easily, Sweeney started with online
searches. In March of 2016, the White
House had a Water Summit. She focused
on the companies in attendance at the
meeting and reviewed the company
websites, looking for success stories
involving individual/sub-metering. She
identified one manufacturer of system
solutions for smart energy and water
metering whose company website highlighted a success story of sub-metering
in a multistory apartment building in
South Carolina. She contacted the company to ask them to have their customer in South Carolina contact
her. He did, and was able to put
her in contact with someone in the
company who also proved helpful,
providing her with four activated
meters with two different reading
systems, two different antennas,
and a meter-reading software application. Sweeney worked with a
trustee to test potential locations
of the meters within the building.
The meters were not actually installed, but instead
were positioned to test the
reading systems and antennas
to determine the best pairing.
Owing to the positive response
from the company, Sweeney
did not explore alternative
meter manufacturers, but
they are available.
Having determined suitable
components, Sweeney and the
trustee presented their findings
to their management company
and full board of trustees. After a positive board meeting, the solution was
presented to the owners, complete
with samples of the proposed equipment. There were some objections.
Owners thought that someone would

have to come inside their unit to read
the meters, but this was not the case.
To read the meters, a five-minute walk
down the third floor corridor would
collect the data for the entire building.
This data is sent to the management
company and they bill individual units
quarterly for the water used. Lynn
Water & Sewer continues to bill the
condo association for the total consumption measured by the two main
meters that belong to Lynn Water &
Sewer. Another concern was that
some wanted all questions answered
before the decision was made, e.g.,
" What will my new condo fee be? "
The board and management commented that they had no crystal ball
and could only present the information and research that they had.
After the discussion was concluded,
the owners approved the project.

The association purchased meters
set to calculate cubic feet of water per
unit. The RFID meters transmit data via
radio waves to a handheld reader with
a 12-inch antenna. The reader collects
only the data needed for billing. The
association collects and stores their data
and has management do the billing.
The sub-meters were installed in
late 2016. Each owner is responsible
for their unit water meter just as
they would be responsible for other
mechanical equipment serving a single
unit. The meters cost approximately
$150 each and installation ($300 each)
was done by a plumber hired by the association. The useful life of the meters
is 16 to 20 years, per the manufacturer.

Condo Media - April 2021

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