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1. Where does my responsibility begin
for the water line to my home? |
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2. May I use the
valve in the meter pit to shut off my water? |
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3. What if I
have an emergency, or need my water shut off for repair? |
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4. I don't know
where my shut-off valve is? |
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5. Is there a
charge for opening and closing the street to repair lines? |
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6. What is an electronic bank draft? |
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7. How do I benefit
from the electronic bank draft? |
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8. How
long will it take to fill out the enrollment form to begin paying my
bill by electronic bank payment? |
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9. When will the
money be taken from my account? |
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10. Will I continue to
receive a monthly Utility Bill? |
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11. What if I want to
cancel the electronic bank draft? |
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12. How do I sign up
for the electronic bank draft? |
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13. What is a
Cross-Connection? |
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14. How come my water
costs so much? |
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Q. Where does my responsibility
begin for the water line to my home?
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| A.
The responsibility for the water line to your home begins at your side
of the meter yoke within the meter pit and goes to your home. |
Q. What is an electronic
bank draft (aka Electronic Funds Transfer)?
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| A.
A bank draft is an efficient electronic payment alternative to paper
checks. It is authorization that you give your bank to pay your
utility bill out of your checking or savings account. You give
authorization one time, and then from then on, the bank pays your
utility bill automatically each month. |
Q. How do I benefit from
the electronic bank draft?
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| A.
It saves aggravation, worry and money. You no longer have to
worry about getting your check written, mailing your payment or
driving to pay your bill in person, or find a drop box. The bill
will always be paid on time, so you never have to worry about
incurring late charges. You will save postage and fuel costs, as
well as the fact that you don't have to write as many checks.
Finally, you never have to get out in bad weather or worry about your
check getting lost in the mail. |
Q. How long will it take
to fill out the enrollment form to begin paying my bill by electronic
bank payment?
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| A.
Enrollment takes one full billing cycle, or approximately one month,
so REMEMBER to keep making monthly payments until you receive the
confirmation message on your utility bill. When you
receive the first bill which reads "Electronic Payment Due Not
Pay", you will know you're on automatic bank draft. |
Q. When will the money
be taken from my account?
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| A.
The day after the due date marked on the bill that you receive monthly
is the Date the bill will be charged against your account. If
the date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, you account will be
charged the following business day. |
Q. Will I continue to
receive a monthly Utility Bill?
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| A. Yes.
You will continue to receive your bill as usual. This will allow
you to monitor your water usage, as well as know when the money will
be deducted from your account. It will also allow you time to
contact Customer Service if you have a question about your bill, and
get it resolved before the due date. |
Q. What if I want to
cancel the electronic bank draft?
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| A.
Anytime you wish to stop the automatic payment, you may do so by
calling our business office at (970) 434-7328, and asking them to
remove your account from automatic bank draft status. |
Q. How do I sign up?
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| A.
You will need to down load the Electronic
Bank Draft Authorization
Form or stop by our office to pick one up, fill out the form, and mail
or deliver it to the Clifton Water District at 510 34 Road. You
can also fax the form to (970) 434-7338. It takes approximately
one month from the time you apply for bank draft until your account is
ready to be paid by automatic bank draft. If you currently owe
us for a bill, you will need to pay it in the usual manner. If
you are behind on your account, you will need to bring it current
before we can enact Automatic Bank Draft on your future utility bills. |
Q. May I use the valve
in the meter pit to shut off my water?
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| A. No.
Because the meter, yoke and all valves within the valve pit are the property
and responsibility of Clifton Water District, you may
not enter the pit for any reason.
Every home should have a shutoff valve installed in the main line
leading into the house. A damaged meter and/or yoke could cost
in excess of $1,000 to replace, and the property owner would be
responsible for that charge (even though your plumber, or your
neighbor was the one who actually entered the pit). Our
Distribution Employees have been in enough pits to be able to
determine if one has been opened and tampered with, so it is very
seldom when something happens that they can't identify the cause. |
Q. What if I have an
emergency, or need my water shut off for repair?
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| A.
If you have a leak between the meter pit and your shut-off valve, or
need to install or relocate your shut-off valve, please contact our
Customer Service Section (434-7328) to arrange for a Distribution
Technician to come out and shut-off your water ... there is no cost
for this service. If you have a leak on your side of the pit,
and need the water shut-off to facilitate repairs, our after hours
answering service will contact our on-call Distribution Technician
after hours. After hour calls will be limited to emergency
shut-off only, not valve installations or relocations.
Non-emergency call-outs may be subject to additional charges on the
properties account.
Our normal work day is between 8:00 am, and
5:00 pm, Monday - Friday (except holidays), and non-emergency requests
for water service termination and activation should be limited to
these times. We will come out (as our schedule will allow), shut
your water off, allow you to complete your repairs, and then return
upon your phone call to re-establish water service for you. Our
Service Technicians cannot (nor will they) help in the repair of your
service line, nor are they allowed to enter your residence or crawl
space in search of your shut-off valve. This should be left up
to your plumber or installation professional.
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Q. How come my water
costs so much?
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| A.
Even though there is an abundance of water around the globe, there is
much less than one percent of all the water in the world that is available and suitable for human use and
consumption without treatment. We all have canals and ditches
around our homes that convey water, but not in a form that we want to
drink, or bathe our children in. Even if you can find a clean
source of water, you still have to contend with dissolved minerals,
heavy metals, germs and bacteria, all of which don't show up in a
clear glass of water. If you're fortunate enough to have a good
clean source that can't be altered by rain, animals or human activity
up-stream, you would still have costs associated with purchasing,
operating and maintaining a pump, not to mention the pipes and
additional filtration systems you might need to meet the same
stringent standards that your local water utility is required to
meet. What about your time to take care of all this ... what is
that worth? Who gets called at 3:00 a.m. when one of your water
lines breaks? There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to
get that water to your faucet.
The actual cost of your water is
set by our Board of Directors, and includes costs for processing,
treatment, storage and delivery. These processes don't occur
naturally, and do not come cheaply. Buildings and equipment, and
qualified personnel to operate and maintain them are required, as well as chemicals,
storage, testing, delivery, and then funds to plan for future
growth, repair and maintain pipes and equipment. Much time
and equipment ... knowledge and experience, goes into that single
glass of water you draw from your tap.
One-half mile of distribution line can cost
in excess of $30,000 to install and test, in a relatively rural
environment, before one drop of water can
be delivered to a customer. The cost is much higher if it is in
a heavily populated, highly traveled section of town where other
utilities or service providers are also located in the construction
area. Once that line is in, disinfected and tested, and finally in service,
because it is buried in the earth, it breaks down over time, as well as
it is affected by expansion and contraction of the soil itself, and
needs to be repaired and maintained. When you look at all the
things that go into getting that water to your tap or faucet, the
$2.00 or so that we're charging you for 1,000 gallons of water isn't a
bad deal. In comparison, that 16oz bottle of bottled water that
you purchase at the local gas station for $1.10 costs you $8,800 per
1,000 gallons. And what about the gas you put in your car ...
how much would 1,000 gallons of that cost you ... $1,350 to $1,800
(using July 2002 figures).
Taken in perspective, is that 1,000 gallons
of water really that expensive? If you're still concerned about
the amount of your water bill, take a look at some of the links that
we offer to other sites that will give you some good ideas on how to
conserve water, which in turn, will lower your water bill. There
are a multitude of ways to decrease the amount of water that you
purchase from us, without really affecting your landscaping, or your
lifestyle. Just a few modifications to the way you're already
doing things in your life, or around your home, may lower your bill
substantially. In the end, you do have a great deal of control
over how much that water bill is.
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Q. I don't know where my
shut-off valve is?
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| A.
Most older homes have their shut-off valves installed in the crawl
space of the home where the water line enters under the
foundation. Newer constructed homes have them located in the
garage area, near the hot water heater. If you need one
installed, or located, or relocated, please contact your
plumber. Have your plumber contact our Customer Service Area
(434-7328) to arrange to have your water shut off. This should
be done between 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday (except holidays).
Please allow enough time to facilitate the
required installation on the given day ... if you figure it's going to
take two (2) hours to do the install, don't wait unit 4:00 p.m. to call to
have you water shut-off ... it may be 8:00 a.m. the next morning before
we can get back out to turn the water back on.
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Q. What is a Cross-Connection?
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| A
cross-connection is the point in a potable water distribution
system where the potable water
may come in contact with
chemical, biological or radiological contaminants that may be
hazardous to humans. |
Q. Is there a charge for
opening and closing the street to repair lines?
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| A.
Provided there is no leak on your line that has caused the problem,
there will be no charge to you for street or other repairs. |
News Letters / CCR
