Burst water meter, who's responsible?

[Sachen]

The actual device which reads water consumption is burst. Pipe damage is on main supply. I noticed it around midnight and logged it to the municipality a few moments later on a call. After many hours and two more calls to query the status during the day they apparently still haven't found a plumber to sort out the problem. It's now 5pm no response received.

Leakage rate according to the meter is 20l/min, 1,200l/hr. Total loss up till now approximately 20,400l. We do pay the water loss levy. Who is responsible for the expense now? If I'm correct, isn't the supply piping and the meter itself the governments property and responsibility? how would I go about sorting all of this like the meter reading and bill payment?

It's the first time I've encountered this so I'm not entirely certain how to go about it or what to expect. I'd appreciate your input, thanks

 

[chuckles_the_cnt]

council, log your usage at the time of incident, enjoy the sh.tshow. what province are you in? not that it'll help, but that looks like a proper proudly south african installation.
dont take advice from strangers

 

[bwana]

If the meter is spinning then the leak has to be on your side of it, right? In that case call a plumber.

 

[Sachen]

council, log your usage at the time of incident, enjoy the sh.tshow. what province are you in? not that it'll help, but that looks like a proper proudly south african installation.
dont take advice from strangers

KZN, also proudly south african response time. Nobody I know has had this happen before lol

 

[bwana]

It's the meter itself tho...

I get that - it's tricky.

There's a cutoff valve before our meter. I'd have closed it by now and called out a plumber.

 

[Sachen]

I get that - it's tricky.

There's a cutoff valve before our meter. I'd have closed it by now and called out a plumber.

I don't see any cut off valves connecting on the mains supply other than that yellow thing on the supply pipe itself which sits on the meter. Looks like it takes a special triangular-ish key, I presume it shuts the water off and only they have the key for it? also isnt the reader their property? and their property is the fault. As far as I'm aware my responsibility is the piping after the reader. Would like more info on this

 

[Sachen]

I don't see any cut off valves connecting on the mains supply other than that yellow thing on the supply pipe itself which sits on the meter. Looks like it takes a special triangular-ish key, I presume it shuts the water off and only they have the key for it? also isnt the reader their property? and their property is the fault. As far as I'm aware my responsibility is the piping after the reader. Would like more info on this

 

[The_Ogre]

Why on earth do they need to find a plumber when they have their own water and sanitation department? What municipality is this?

 

[soulie]

fill your pool up so long .consumer side starts at the outlet , supplier ends at the outlet .meter is muni problem ,

 

[Nerfherder]

I get that - it's tricky.

There's a cutoff valve before our meter. I'd have closed it by now and called out a plumber.

There must be a cut off valve before the meter. Needs to be both sides so they can replace the meter.

 

[soulie]

The actual device which reads water consumption is burst. Pipe damage is on main supply. I noticed it around midnight and logged it to the municipality a few moments later on a call. After many hours and two more calls to query the status during the day they apparently still haven't found a plumber to sort out the problem. It's now 5pm no response received.

Leakage rate according to the meter is 20l/min, 1,200l/hr. Total loss up till now approximately 20,400l. We do pay the water loss levy. Who is responsible for the expense now? If I'm correct, isn't the supply piping and the meter itself the governments property and responsibility? how would I go about sorting all of this like the meter reading and bill payment?

It's the first time I've encountered this so I'm not entirely certain how to go about it or what to expect. I'd appreciate your input, thanks

if you have a stop cock just inside of your boundary wall/fence then that is where your responsibility starts .

 

[Sachen]

Why on earth do they need to find a plumber when they have their own water and sanitation department? What municipality is this?

Still nothing, It blows my mind too. This is eThekwini

 

[Sachen]

Look at those cheap parts too... frightning.

Considering our government, I'm surprised that we at least had something rather than just mere hopes and dreams. But they always swoop in uninvited and decide to spoil their reputation even further

 

[Sachen]

if you have a stop cock just inside of your boundary wall/fence then that is where your responsibility starts .

There must be a cut off valve before the meter. Needs to be both sides so they can replace the meter.

Yeah, that valve is essential. What I see in those pics is dodgy at best.

Regarding the stop cock, there is one after the meter for the house (White container at the bottom) but nothing before it. unless it's buried? From the pic it can be seen that the soil is already eroded so much that other pipes have begun showing and the meters base is basically held by the tiniest bit of soil and there's still no sign of a valve behind it. I'm guessing this valve should have been in plain sight with no digging required in the first place?

 

[Moto Guzzi]

The future seems crappy to me, just one example of engineering farts.
-I fitted a new pressure device to my inlet to geyser, and only a year after the plastic top with a valve mechanisn just fell off when I touched, nothing is leaking but now I cannnot open the bypass to clean out.
The flood of rubbish products is just astounding.

 

[Sachen]

The future seems crappy to me, just one example of engineering farts.
-I fitted a new pressure device to my inlet to geyser, and only a year after the plastic top with a valve mechanisn just fell off when I touched, nothing is leaking but now I cannnot open the bypass to clean out.
The flood of rubbish products is just astounding.

Tell me about it, Instead of spending those few rands more for quality parts they cheap out. We all know the intention behind it. Keep buying replacements. Your mechanism should still be working. You'll just have to work it with some pliers or preferably a vice for a bit more control. Thanks for reminding me though, I haven't purged mine for a while

 

[RedViking]

You should be able to claim back from the municipality. There is a limit amount of times you can do it a year. But I assume you haven't had a leak before, so should not be an issue.