Submeters: A New Incentive for California Tenants to Save Water

Photo: An apartment building in the Westlake section of Los Angeles. A new California law requires water meters to be installed at individual apartments starting with new developments in 2018. Debra Carlton with the California Apartment Association explains how this will work. Mark J. Terrill, AP

A new state law requires water meters to be installed in individual apartments in new multifamily developments after January 1, 2018. Currently, tenants don’t receive individual water bills and have no idea how much water they consume.

If you live in an apartment in California, you don’t pay for the water you use – not directly, anyway. Apartments in California, with few exceptions, don’t have individual water meters, known as submeters. Instead, water usage is wrapped up in the rent payment, which means tenants have no idea how much water they’re using, and no direct financial incentive to conserve.

This also means millions of Californians aren’t helping the state survive its ongoing drought. A survey of Los Angeles apartment owners in 2015 revealed that total water use remained unchanged – and even increased, in some cases – despite the governor’s 25 percent conservation order.

A 2004 study, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, […]

Full article: Submeters: A New Incentive for California Tenants to Save Water