Water where it shouldn't be
Pipes that might be old
A freeze is coming (AI picture)
After a flood
A smell you can't place
Who to call and what they need
Whose water, town by town
Every picture on the walkFront yard, stop 1 of 5
What's in the water meter box, and what isn't yours
A water meter box holds the meter and usually the utility’s cut-off, and in Columbia the box, the meter and the line up to it are the city’s to maintain.1,2 Your part starts on the house side. Look at the dial all you like. Leave the valve and the meter alone.
Go to the front edge of your yard, along the street, and look for a small lid in the grass or the sidewalk.
Updated , Midlands House Walk
Don’t turn the valve in the box or adjust the meter. Columbia’s notice says customers normally may not.2 The permission it gave for January 3-8, 2018 covered that freeze and nothing since.2 Other utilities: ask them.
Where is the box?
- Look for
- Walk the line where your yard meets the right of way. Most Columbia meters sit along it in the front yard.1 A flush lid can vanish under grass and leaves, so feel for it with your foot.
- What it tells you
- The box marks where the utility’s job usually stops and yours begins. The buried stretch from here to your wall has its own stop: who fixes the yard line.
What do you see with the lid off?
- Look for
- A meter, the pipe on each side of it, and usually a cut-off valve.2 Dirt, webs and small fungus are ordinary. Use your eyes and keep your hands out.
- What it tells you
- Damp soil in a box doesn’t prove a leak by itself. For a real answer, read the dial, wait two hours without using water, and read it again.4 The meter leak test goes through it.
How do you read the dial?
- Look for
- Columbia’s meters read in cubic feet, and the bill counts units of 100 cubic feet.1 Copy every number on the face, in order, onto paper.
- What it tells you
- It tells you how much water has gone past. City customers can also watch use online through EyeOnWater and set leak notifications,3 so you may not need to lift the lid much at all.
What if the meter or box looks damaged?
- Look for
- A damaged or unreadable face, a crushed or missing lid, or water standing in the box.
Is it the same in West Columbia, Cayce or Lexington?
Don’t assume it. West Columbia, Cayce, the Town of Lexington and the Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission are separate providers.5 Irmo and Blythewood weren’t confirmed here, so read the name on your bill and ask that office who looks after what. Whose water is it? sorts out the names.
Yours to do
- Find the box and keep grass off the lid so nobody has to hunt for it in a hurry.
- Read the dial and write the numbers down.
- Find your own house shutoff, because the valve in the box isn’t the one for you to use.
A short film for this stop
A water district staffer finds a meter box, lifts the lid with care in case critters have moved in, and points out the small low-flow indicator on the meter. From Marin Water, an outside channel; it loads from YouTube only when you press play.
