Thousands of Chicago homeowners happily watered their lawns without giving it a second thought during the bone-dry months of last summer even as the yards of their suburban brethren turned brown.
But the handle on the free-flowing spigot is about to tighten.
The Daley administration plans to purchase an automated meter-reading system that officials said Thursday is a first step toward installing water meters citywide to reduce waste.
Currently, 160,000 properties in the city are metered. But the owners of about 350,000 homes and small apartment buildings are able to let the water flow unencumbered by worries about how much it will cost. Unmetered, they get flat-rate bills no matter how much water they use.
Some homeowners are expected to be less than ecstatic about the impending change, first telegraphed by Mayor Richard Daley three years ago.
But one happy person on Thursday was Cameron Davis, executive director of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
The city's system "is long overdue for change," Davis said. "I think it is important for people to know we send about 2 billion gallons of Lake Michigan water away from the lake every day. Everything we can do to know what we are using so that we can conserve Lake Michigan is smart."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0603030275mar03,1,1017456.story
Posted by Dave at March 3, 2006 09:49 AM