Water Meters & Meter Conversion

Water is precious commodity in our high-desert region, dependent on unpredictable snowpack for our supply. In December of 2001, the TMWA Board of Directors adopted a policy to accelerate the water meter retrofit program to address this issue. (Download the policy.)

TMWA customers who move into a home previously billed on a flat water rate will be converted to a metered rate.

This policy will be initiated when a customer calls with a change of address, or begins new service. Currently, all commercial businesses are metered. All TMWA customers are metered, including all homes built after June 1988. The average 3/4 inch flat rate customer uses 265,000 gallons of water per year. In comparison, the average metered customer uses only 137,000 gallons per year.

TMWA serves more than 120,000 homes and businesses in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County, making it the largest water purveyor in the area.

After years of study, on December 13, 2007, the TMWA Board of Directors voted to convert all customers who have a meter installed to the metered rate. The initial implementation date was January 2010. However, further analysis of the conversion timing lead to a Board decision on May 21, 2009, to implement the conversion of flat-rate customers to metered billing no sooner than June 2010.

The TMWA Board of Directors voted at its December, 2014 meeting to begin the public process to receive input on the possible conversion of all remaining flat-rate customers to metered billing. The Board of Directors made a final decision on when to implement conversion at its May 21st, 2015 Board meeting. The Board voted to move forward with converting flat-rate customers—with the exception of former STMGID flat-rate customers—to the metered rate, beginning October 1, 2015.This was after public meetings were held to receive public input.