Water Bill Woes

In the last year the City of Atlanta's Watershed Management Depaartment has been installing new water meters capable of being read electronically. For many customers, both residential and commercial, the new meters have been one big headache. The new meters have also exposed the lack of "customer service" in the WMD. Our 13,000 sf mixed office and retail building in Grant Park seems to be a good example of water woes. The building is serviced by 3 separate water meters. One meter serves the office portion of the building. This section of the building has 5 restroom-all with one low flow toilet each, a small "wet bar" area and a little used kitchen. The other two meters serve a hair salon and a restaurant. Historically, as one would expect, both the restaurant and the salon were the biggest water users in the building.

When the "new" water meters were installed last summer, everything was turned upside down.
The water bill for the offices increased by a factor of 20 and both the salon and restaurant's bills dropped. Each water bill has a "bar chart" showing monthly consumption. The bar chart for the offices shot up in August, the first month on the new meter. After checking for leaks and finding none, we called the WMD to ask them to check the meter. Nothing happened. Over the next few months, we would experience "deja vu" all over again. We would receive an astronomically high bill, call the WMD and they would promise to re-read the meter and nothing would happen.
Finally, after about 3 months we called City Council Member Carla Smith's office for help. It took Ms. Smith's office another 2 months to get the WMD to admit that the were misreading the meter. The most recent bill was back to "normal". Council member Smith is known for her great service to her constituents. It's a shame that her office has to spend it's valuable time on something that the customer service folks at WMD should be able to easily handle.