National Water Commission and your Water Bill

Have you ever wondered why you continue to get a high water bill even though you have no water running through your pipe.

You write the water commission and they tell you, that is what the meter registered and as such you will have to pay up or the services will be disconnected. As much as it seems you are being taken for a ride, the fact is the water commission is correct and you will have to pay what has been billed as recorded by your meter.

First posted Jan 10, 2010

Recently many Jamaicans have been complaining about the huge increases in their water bill since the new water bill has been introduced.
At the same time many are complaining of up to a 3-fold increase in their bills during the period when they had no water, and are livid with the NWC.
Who is to be blamed for the problem, is it that the NWC is ripping off people, or it that people are burning a hole in their own pockets, due to lack of understanding on the provision of water.

Air in an inherent part of the water supply process and you will notice that when too much air is forced into the water supply you get hammering which could damage your water supply system. ( That white stuff you see in your water which you call chlorine is actually dissolved gases sucked in or deliberate let in by your water supplier)
I have made the observation that the NWC actually makes more money during periods of water lock-off than when there is a constant supply of water, due mainly to the fact that the consumer do not understand how their water supply system works.

For those who are metered, the meter will move as fluid (water) or air passes through the meter. The meter in turns gives any approximate measure as to the amount of fluid that is consumed by the home owner and you pay for what is registered on the meter.
What most householders are not aware of is that the water meter spins as much as 4-5 times as fast when a pipe is open and there is no water flow that when water is actually flowing.

Let me explain this a little more. The meter needles turns a rate at which approximates to the fluid flows past the meter actuator. Therefore the more you open your pipe the greater the rate of flow of the water(air), hence the faster the meter turns resulting in big changes in the meter reading in short period of time.

So at low flow rate of say 5 gallons per minute (gpm) means you would have used 5 gallons in one minute and hence you are billed for that.
If you increase the rate of flow to 10gpm, then you would have used 10 gallons in the same minute and hence you are billed for 10 gallons.

Here is the where the water commission rips into you. When you leave that pipe open to ensure you know when water has arrived, you end up being billed for “air” which is flowing through the pipe at a rate which is up to 4 times greater than when you actually have water flowing through the same pipe.
So lets say the max rate of flow from your pipe when fully opened is 10gpm with water, with air that works out to be 40 gpm !!!

So at a rate of $1 per gallon, you would pay $10 per minute when you have water and an amazing $40 per minute without water.

How do you stop them.

1. Keep your pipes off during the period of water lock off, do NOT leave them open.
2. Keep your toilet tank full. This is the area that you are likely to pay dearly as an empty tank will have the float ball down, thus allowing a constant flow of air into the tank, which you will be billed for, the flow stops when the tank is filled with water.
3. If you have a water tank connected to your mains with a float valve, shut off that valve when water is locked off. It operates on the very same principle as the toilet and combined they will “kill” you. The problem here is that you would like to get your tank full as soon as the water is back, so you will have to decide which is the most cost-effective method for you. If you place a fluid non-return valve on your inlet line it could reduce the airflow, as these values typically need fluid to get it to open.

So the next time you get a big bill and you where out of water, just remember that you paid for a whole lot of air, and NWC will move to collect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZvi37aF89Q

This is the other video that is worth viewing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV32AdruH0o