Reading Your Water Meter

With environmental pumping restrictions on the State Water Project and below normal rainfall and snow pack for a second year, water conservation is now critical. To assist their efforts to reduce water usage, many customers have expressed an interest in reading their water meters to monitor and track their water usage from month to month. Below is some information on how to read your meter.

Meter Reading Cycles

All District meters are read on a monthly basis. The date your meter will be read in the next month is reflected on your water billing statement (see the example billing statement). For those interested in tracking water usage, we would advise reading your meter on the same day as we read the meter.

Click here to view our meter read calendar for 2011

Middle Section of Your Water Bill

AMR Meters

Valley Center Municipal Water District has completed its meter upgrade program to the new Automated Meter Read (AMR) meters. The most common sizes we have in the field are, 3/4" and 1" water meters.

To read the AMR water meter, first check your water bill to identify your meter number and meter size, information located midway down on the left hand side of your bill (again, see the example billing statement).

Locate your water meter and remove the meter box lid being careful not to dislodge the wires connecting the meter to the AMR antenna on top of your meter box lid. Once the box is open, confirm the meter number located on the brass lid attached to your water meter is the same serial number on your water bill. If you have difficulty in locating your meter, please contact the District and a representative will locate and flag your water meter.

3/4" and 1" Meter Reading

To read your ¾” or 1” water meter, ignore the first 4 digits from right to left as these are not used in the computation of your bill. For example, a meter dial reading of 003,676.92 would be recorded as 36hcf (hundred cubic feet) and would show on your bill as 36. See photo example.

Larger Meters

For Larger meters, such as, 1½”, 2” and 3”, discount the first 3 digits from right to left. Using the example above; your water bill would record 367hcf and would show on your bill as 367.

Checking for Leaks

To test for leaks in your system, make sure all of your faucets, hoses and sprinklers are turned off. All of the AMR water meters have a small red dial located on the lower right side of the water meter. After confirming all your valves are off this red dial should have NO movement. If the red dial is moving, you may have a leak somewhere within your system and water is slowly flowing through your meter.