SAVE WATER NY is New York City's leading provider of water conservation products and services.
Save Water NY helps commercial, residential building and home owners select the proper water conservation plumbing fixtures to reduce water consumption and lower their water and sewer expenses. Every drop of water wasted is money down the drain.
Save Water NY offers the most innovative high efficiency toilets, dual flush designs, aerated faucets, low flow showerheads and leak detection services. All of our products are designed to save water and save you money.
Saving Water = $aving Money
Let's all do our part to save our most precious resource.
Attention New York City Building owners - get ready to pay significantly more for your water and sewer charges. The New York City Water Board will be ending the current “frontage” flat rate billing system on July 1, 2009. At that time, multiple dwellings with six or more units that are currently billed under the “frontage” system will either be forced into direct meter-based billing or to a new flat-rate system called the Multiple Family Conservation Program (“MCP”). This may add significantly to your buildings water / sewer expenses, especially if you are not engaging in water conservation efforts.
Toilet leaks are the largest single problem building owners face because they can be very large and because both building staff and residents often don’t realize how severe these leaks can be. A “small” inaudible toilet leak can waste tens of gallons each day while a worse leak will send hundreds of gallons a day down the drain. A continuously leaking toilet could lose more than 1,000 gallons a day. Buildings must get proactive and replace their building’s old toilets with High Efficiency Toilets. Toilets are by far the main source of water use in apartments, accounting for approximately 30 percent of residential indoor water consumption. Toilets also happen to be a major source of wasted water due to leaks and/or inefficiency. The DEP will be offering financial incentives to help owners with the cost of replacing older inefficient toilets. If an apartment’s kitchen faucet drips every 20 or 30 seconds 24 hours a day over the course of a year, the cost would be roughly $225 a year for that single faucet. A unit with one continuously running faucet (unable to be turned completely off) can cost as much as $1,500 a year. In one mid-sized Queens co-op, leaks comprised 37 percent of the their water bill! By eliminating these leaks, the building now sees an annual savings of more than $125,000 a year.
Understanding and paying your water and sewer bill
All properties within New York City that receive Water and Sewer service from the NYC Water Board via the Department of Environmental Protection are billed for those services in the form of Water and Sewer bills. Most properties are billed based upon consumption at the premises, which is measured by a water meter at the head of the water service pipe where it enters the building. Each property connected to the ‘system’ should have at least one Account, (but there may be several), which details the method of billing and is usually mailed to the property owner quarterly
How You Are Billed for your Water Services
Water and Wastewater Rate Schedule - Effective July 1, 2007 (FY2008), the water rate for all metered and unmetered in-City customers increased by 11.5% over the rate in effect in Fiscal Year 2007, and the wastewater rate remained at 159% of the applicable water chargeMeter Readings
How a Meter Measures Water:
Water meters are mechanical devices and most work in a similar manner. They have a measurement device in an ‘inner chamber’ that is calibrated to record the amount of water that goes through the meter. Most meters in one, two and three family homes record water in tenths of cubic feet. A cubic foot of water is approximately equivalent to 7 1?2 gallons of water. (You could actually use a five gallon bucket and measure it filled one and one half times, which would be roughly equal to a cubic foot.)
If you feel that your meter is recording incorrectly, you may request a ‘meter accuracy test’ be performed on your meter. This test is not free and the service fee of $180.00 must be paid before a meter test appointment can be arranged. Please call The DEP's Customer Call Center at 718-595-7000 during business hours and speak to a Customer Service Representative for more information about the service. Multi-Family Conservation Program:
The Multi-Family Conservation Program (MCP) offers owners of multiple family housing consisting of six or more dwelling units, an option to elect, in lieu of metered billing, billing based on a fixed charge per dwelling unit if the owner invests in low-consumption plumbing hardware and fixtures, and cooperates with DEP in conservation efforts in their buildings. The objective of the program is to promote water conservation in multi-family buildings and to give owners of such buildings a measure of control over their water and sewer costs.
The current application deadline is December 31, 2008. Please note that the per-apartment charge under this rate changes every year if / when water/sewer rates change. The current (July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007) charge is $583.35 per apartment per year. The Reimbursable Metering Program:
Private meter installation with reimbursement is designed to provide owners of residential properties the opportunity to have their water meters installed by a Licensed Master Plumber of their own choosing. It also provides all property owners, both residential and commercial, with the ability to use their own licensed plumber to replace existing "entire premise" ("EP") meters that are no longer functioning properly.
This alternative is provided because the New York City Water Board and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recognize that metering can be a mechanically difficult task in some cases, that it may need to be coordinated with other work in the building and/or that you may prefer to have your own plumber perform this work prior to the City contracting to have meters installed or replaced in your building or home. If you choose to have your own plumber meter your building, you will be reimbursed in the form of a credit on future water and sewer bills.
Leak & Waste Forgiveness Program – This program is offered to customers who meet qualifications set in the Water Board Rate Schedule. The program is only available through a written application sent to the Customer Services mailing address on your bill. If you receive a vary large water and sewer bill, and it was due to an extraordinary leak on your property that was not in a fixture like a toilet, a sink, a tub, a garden hose, etc… and it required you obtain the services of a licensed plumber to do the repair, the program compares the high bill to other normal bills from matching time periods and if it meets certain guidelines, you may be able to receive a reduction in the charges. (NOTE: the charges on the high bill will never be reduced more than half of their original issue value.)
Four Year Billing Limitation – The Water Board has a ‘self-imposed’ limitation on its ability to upwardly adjust bills that were originally issued at a lower amount. This just restricts the Water Board from increasing the size of an existing bill that was issued more than four years in the past. If you have never received a bill for water and sewer services, you are liable for four retroactive years of charges. NOTE: If a ‘Title Meter Reading’ is not requested and completed at least 30 days prior to you taking ownership at the closing, you are not protected from un-issued charges that may date back to consumption of the prior owner, if the Bureau discovers those earlier charges were too low.
The four year rule is not a limitation on how much you may be responsible for if you have extended unpaid charges. Bills issued by the NYC Water Board that are based upon actual consumption, using actual readings and data from a functioning meter, are valid and considered a ‘lien’ against your property until they are paid in full.
Do's and don'ts of Water Conservation:
Do take short showers and save 5 to 7 gallons a minute.
Do fill the tub halfway and save 10 to 15 gallons.
Do install water-saving toilets, showerheads and faucet aerators.
Don't run the water while shaving, washing your hands or brushing your teeth. Faucets use 2 to 3 gallons a minute.
Don't use the toilet as a wastebasket, and don't flush it unnecessarily.
Do repair leaky faucets and turn taps off tightly. A slow drip wastes 15 to 20 gallons each day.
Do run the dishwasher and washing machine only when full. Save even more by using the short cycle.
Do install faucet aerators.
Don't let the water run while washing dishes. Kitchen faucets use 2 to 3 gallons a minute. Filling a basin only takes 10 gallons to wash and rinse.
Don't run water to make it cold. Have it chilled in the refrigerator, ready to drink.
Do use a self-closing nozzle on your hose.
Don't water your sidewalk or driveway sweep them clean.
