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5 min read

How Landlords Can Track Water Usage and Prevent Overuse

How Landlords Can Track Water Usage and Prevent Overuse

As a landlord, one of your most important responsibilities is to track water usage and prevent wastage. Otherwise, the steeply rising water bills can burn a hole into your pocket.

However, this is about more than just managing utility bills. This practice protects your property, reduces maintenance expenses, and practices environmental sustainability.

So, here are some of the most effective solutions for tracking water usage and preventing overuse.

How to Track Water Usage in Rental Properties? Every Homeowner’s Must-Dos

1. Use a water submeter to track water use of individual units and alert tenants

If you’re wondering how to check tenants' water usage, the best solution is to install an individual water meter in every rental unit. This system will tell you exactly how much water each tenant consumes.

Even tenants can track water usage data with an individual water meter and be mindful of their water consumption.

Some benefits of installing individual water metering in apartments are:

Accountability

Tenants are held responsible for their water usage. This also shifts the responsibility of water bill payment from the landlord to the tenant, motivating tenants to use less water. They understand that they can’t make excuses or lie about practicing water conservation.

Precise billing

Landlords might bill tenants on average in properties without water submeters or claim a fixed utility fee. This leads to disputes about unfair billing, especially for tenants with low water consumption. Sometimes, even landlords end up paying out of their own pocket.

With a submeter, tenants are billed for their exact water consumption to ensure fairness.  

Leak detection

If the meter shows unnaturally excessive water consumption for specific tenants, they can be alert about plumbing leaks. Thus, water metering in apartments will prevent a small leak from snowballing into something serious.

2. Plumb the property to detect leaks with an intelligent water monitor (like Flume)

Another way to track water usage is through smart water meters. They have advanced features that show significant data on smartphone apps regarding water consumption and usage. Some benefits of implementing them are:

Real-time monitoring

Smart water meters let landlords track daily water usage in real-time. This helps you track any anomaly like sudden excess water consumption in the property.

Data Analytics

The app’s analytics help landlords track water usage trends and insights, which can be useful for creating more effective water conservation measures.

Remote access

Using the apps, landlords can track water usage on their water property from anywhere. This makes managing multiple properties much easier.

Leak detection

Several smart water meters have leak-detection technology. They alert abnormally high water consumption through apps. You can alert the tenants for leaks or even check yourself if you get such notifications.

3. Implement leak detection systems – the simplest way to track water leak

Annually, the average household leak leads to 10,000+ gallons of water—which can be used for about 270 loads of laundry! This is because it’s challenging to notice slow and minute leaks. Further, leaks significantly cause impossibly high water bills and water damage.

So, automatic leak detection systems are another significant way to check water usage. Install them in every apartment or rental unit.

These systems include smart sensors that can be fitted in kitchens, bathrooms, basements, and other leak-prone zones.

When a leak occurs, the sensor sends signals to the landlord. If the model supports automatic water supply shutdown, it happens. If not, the landlord can respond immediately or notify property managers to get things under control.

Some of these systems also monitor water flow rates. They send notifications whenever there are abnormal water flow rates, indicating leaks.

How to Prevent Excess Water Consumption? Ways to Promote Water Conservation

1. Reduce shower water flow speed

A major cause of water overuse is the high water flow of showerheads. Before you install low-flow showerheads in all rental units, let us tell you it’s a waste of time and money!

Why?

After a long, tiresome day, most people prefer to release all the stress in a shower. This feels wonderful with strong water pressure, so they often tamper with the showerhead and remove the flow restrictor.

So, an amazing way to prevent tampering while also reducing the water flow rate is to install a concealed water flow restrictor behind the wall of the shower fixture. Thus, tenants can’t access it.

The flow controller regulates water flow, reducing the water tenants use.

It has a built-in O-ring to compensate for water pressure variations and ensures equal flow in all tenants’ showers despite the floor levels. 

The O-ring expands or contracts if the pressure is too low or too high, respectively, and ensures steady pressure.

The restrictor also doesn’t clog due to its auto-clean technology, so maintenance isn’t required.

Note: Download The Water Scrooge App to get detailed installation instructions and real-time insights about leaks, water flow rate, and condition of water fixtures. Thus, it helps track water consumption and identify leaks from unnatural reports!

2. Save this precious resource with a motion-activated toilet valve

Toilet leaks are another major cause of water wastage and can easily go unnoticed. Further, there are so many components of the toilet that can lead to leaks.

Tenants don’t even know where to check to report leaks. Some don’t care if you demand an average energy bill from them and pay the overwhelming bill yourself.

Ultimately, this leads to significant expenses until you notice and fix the leaks. So, another excellent investment is a motion-activated toilet shutoff valve.

These valves fill the toilet tank only when they sense a user’s motion inside the toilet. Once they don’t sense motion, they immediately cut water flow to the tank. Since there’s no continuous water inflow, you can rest assured that you’re not paying for continuous leaks!

Note: Our toilet shutoff valve is powered by every flush, so there’s no need to periodically change batteries.

3. Install water-saving appliances and fixtures

Another way to reduce water usage is to get Energy Star-rated appliances for rental properties. If your current water-using appliances (dishwashers and washing machines) are too old, it’s time to upgrade. Energy Star-rated appliances require less water and electricity.

This switch can be quite beneficial, especially if you have a multi-family rental property with shared laundry services.

Pools also consume lots of water if there’s poor maintenance. Install energy-efficient pumps to decrease water and energy consumption.

You must also replace old, leaky faucets to avoid water loss from leaks. Get fixtures and faucets with long-term durability to make the switch cost-efficient.

4. Invest in water-efficient landscaping

If your rental property has landscaping, it can consume a chunk of water. However, water-efficient landscaping strategies offer great potential for saving water and utility bills. So, maintain a stunning outdoor area with these strategies.

Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping includes landscape design that incorporates drought-resistant and native plants. These require minimal watering and can adapt to local weather with minimal irrigation.

Rainwater harvesting

Place rain barrels and cisterns to gather and store rainwater. You can use the collected water for landscaping and reduce municipal water usage.

Drip irrigation systems

Traditional sprinklers also wastewater. Embrace drip irrigation, which sends water directly to plant roots. This reduces water wastage and loss due to evaporation.

Smart irrigation controllers

Using smart irrigation controllers, you can automatically adjust the watering schedule. This depends on soil moisture content, humidity, weather, and plants’ needs. Thus, the system waters only when needed.

5. Encourage tenants to reduce water waste and water bill

Involve tenants in your water conservation strategies to make it more impactful. For instance,

  • Offer educational material on saving water, such as turning off the faucets while brushing and shaving, taking shorter showers, running full-load dishwashers, and taking short showers.
  • Offer special incentives, such as discounts on rent or utility bills, to motivate tenants to use less water.

6. Seek a plumber to prevent water damage and protect your home

Inspect the plumbing system regularly to identify issues before they worsen. Schedule a plumbing inspection with a reliable plumber at least twice a year and once after tenant turnover. Ask them to inspect specifically:

  • Leaks: Check all pipes and connections for leaks and drips.
  • Water heaters: Water heaters must properly function and offer the best insulation to avoid heat loss and water wastage.
  • Faucets and showerheads: Request them to monitor for wear and tear or corrosion signs.

7. Take control of your water bill with new policies in the lease

Introduce some policies in lease agreements to set boundaries about water consumption. Promote more responsible water management and avoid paying more water bills with these tips:

  • List some water-saving rules for tenants, including leakage reporting and not wasting water. Send them as emails to every tenant and print and post them in a common space.
  • Announce a penalty fee for exceeding a specified water usage limit. Tenants will try harder to avoid such penalties.
  • Clarify that tenants must report leaks and water damage promptly and are liable for any reporting negligence.
  • If there’s no water submeter, share how everyone will be charged based on the water bills.

Final Words

With these strategies, you can consistently track water usage and prevent wastage and overconsumption. So, adopt these practical methods soon, notify your tenants about your water-saving goals, and start taking control of your property’s water usage.

If you want to implement fantastic and cost-efficient water-saving products, explore our range of products at TheWaterScrooge and explore different possibilities!