Community Water

Does anyone know how community water, individual water meters actually work when combined with a storage tank and pumps?

I find it odd that the bill only comes 3 months after the meter is read, been to Acosol today but they were not much help.

Would be helpful if you put your (Spanish) location in your profile. Had to Google Acosol to find where they are.

If you've been to them already and they"weren't much help", I'm not sure what anyone else can do. If they don't think it's unusual for the bill to arrive 3 months after the reading was taken, what can we say? Plus, I'm not really too sure what your question is. "Community water, individual water meters"? Not sure what you mean. 

Hi Antonio,

We live in Sitio de Calahonda and are with Acosol. Our meter was read on 16/08/17. We received the bill on 01/11/17 and the money was taken from our bank on the 23/11/17. So as you can see, it seems to be the usual way they do it. All our bills from Acosol seem to get paid between 3 to 4 months after being read.

Hi Roberto and Jack, sorry Roberto have added location to my profile and did a reply to you yesterday but it does not seem to have posted.

From what you both say the bill being so late must be the norm. The other issue which  I am trying to work out is with regards to the communal billing and I assume others must have a similar set up.

The water comes into the community through a pipe which appears to be about 3" diameter. It supplies a large storage tank and then pumps distribute it around the apartments before which it goes through individual meters again billed by Acosol. Either we are paying twice for the same water or the billing takes into account thew reading on the meter coming in minus all the individual meters.

The last bill is quite a lot larger than it has been for a while which has focussed attention on what is happening, I do not think there is a leak and the larger than normal consumtion due to more water used by the irrigation system through the summer, but it would be nice to work out how the metering is being done.

Again, it's not clear whether you're talking about the community water or your own individual water - it seems you're muddling the two. How old is the building? If it's anything like ours, which is only 12 years old, the water will go straight from the mains supply into a cistern (aljibe) and from there be pumped via individual meters to individual properties. There may also be a meter for the community, if, for example, there is a tap in the garage. I'm not certain, but I believe the water for the garden will not go via the cistern - I think there's a regualtion about keeping garden / pool supplies seperate from domestic use. There may therefore be another community meter, totally seperate from the cistern feed. The community is certainly not paying for the water going into the cistern though - as you say, the water taken out of there is billed to individual owners. There may be a gauge on the line in, so that the water company can check it tallies with what's going through the meters - but not a meter corresponding to the community contract..

Are you seeing the community's bills? The latest bill would certainly include the summer irrigation, hence a higher bill than the previous one - but have you compared it to previous years?

Hi Roberto,

The building is about 10 years old but parts of it were started well before that but never finished. The water which goes into the cistern seems to be metered as I said it goes through a large pipe about 3" diameter then the pumps feed a manifold which is then tapped off with stop taps and meters to the individual apartments including two supplies, one for the pool and one for general services so we actually get three bills per quarter the smaller two are 50-60 euros and the larger one this time was 700 euros, it is normally about 400 euros. The only way it would work out correctly is if the individual metter readings were knocked off the large meter reading. the reason I think this might be the case is the meter reading on the large pipe does not tie up with the cubic meters charged for on the bill, unless we have a very much larger bill coming next time.  The only other possibility is that there is yet another meter somewhere else which we have not found as yet.

Antonio,

As Roberto say's there are individual meters to the apartments and to the irrigation, pools and garage taps. In our community accounts it shows the charges for the irrigation, pools and taps. This is worked out from the community meter. This is paid for by the community fees that you pay. You pay for the water that you use in the apartment,This is why there are individual meters. 

Jack,

What I am saying is that the community water main coming in has a meter on it, then it feeds the individual apartments so the water going to the apartments has come through two meters, i have traced the pipework.

Antonio - you really need to be clearer. Are you asking just about the community water, or about your own private water as well? Are you the new president, perhaps? Have you spoken to the administrator, or the previous president, the maintenance company, or someone who actually knows the building's installations? Maybe the builder or developer are still in business (unlikely!) and you can contact them for plumbing plans. failing that, why not simply ask Acosol?

"The water which goes into the cistern seems to be metered" I doubt that. There's probably two pipes, one going directly to the cistern without going through a meter, the other feeding the garden, which will be metered. Maybe you're right, you just haven't found it yet (but it's been there for 10 years already!!)

"...two supplies, one for the pool and one for general services so we actually get three bills" What's the third one??? Probably the garden, hence the high bill (irrigation). The meter is probably outside the building somewhere. You need to do a bit of detective work. The meters should all have numbers on them, which will appear somewhere on the corresponding bills. Put the irrigation system on and watch the two meters you kow about to see if they move. I'm betting they won't! (Probably the one you think is feeding the cistern will, though) And again, the 700€ bill needs to be checked against the same period last year, not last quarter, to determine if the usage is unusual or not.

Happy hunting!

Hi Roberto,

If I had the information to be clearer I would not have a problem. At the moment it is the community water that I am trying to get to grips with and assisting the president. I have only been here a short while and it has only just come to light we are paying three water bills as have only ever recieved one.

I went to Acosol last friday and they told me we only had one supply so I then went to the bank and got copies of the monies paid by direct debit, Acosol then admitted they were wrong and managed to produce copies of the bills which have not been recieved, the meter numbers of which tie up with the two labelled supplies to pool and general services.

The third meter I have found on the 3"" main does not tie up number wise or reading wise with the third bill but the pipework from it does come through our wall, Unfortnately the president has no idea, the administator neither  and the developer is long gone so there are no drawings for me to use to check.

At least it is dry today so I am out on the hunt for another meter

Antonio, that's clearer already! Now I understand the situation. I'm pretty sure the third "meter" is really just a gauge, perhaps so Acosol can tally the volume going into your cistern with what's coming out through individual meters. I'm equally sure there is a third meter somewhere feeding the garden directly (not through the cistern), it's just a matter of finding it. I don't imagine Acosol will be particularly helpful, but they know where it is! Maybe your administrator can get further than you with them - this should be his job really.

Good luck, and let us know if you get a result 

Edit: just in case it's not obvious  you're looking for "numero de contador" on the bills (meter number). Also, just as a comparison, although it's hard not knowing your property, we used 272m3 last summer to irrigate a small garden that's probably about a couple of hundred square metres, costing about €900. This was higher than usual because some stupid neighbour nagged the gardener to give it more water (without the president's consent). The subsequent bill had a notice on it to tell us that the usage was higher than normal, and advising us to check for leaks etc. We also received a seperate letter warning us of "non-habitual" usage. But of course, we're in a different area, so have a different supplier.

Roberto,

I had found the meter numbers on the bill and the third large bore meter did not correspond, however the missing meter had a number consecutive to one of the ones I had already found. Been out this morning in the sun and found the missing meter at the opposite end of the complex to the irrigation, incorrectly labelled as feeding an apartment.

Been to Acosol and had the addresses corrected so we should actually get all the bills in future and be able to check the readins. I think you were right, either the large bore meter is a check that there is no illegal abstraction going on, or it was installed for the builder before the individual meters and never removed.

Our ex gardener used to switch the watering off and stand for hours with a hose at a very low pressure instead of gardening!

Thanks for your help!

Glad you finally got there! 

Yes, the mystery meter could well have been the builder's, that makes sense too.

We had a cleaner who used the garden hose to "clean" the communal passageways - no sign of a broom or mop, and no concern for our water bills! We live & learn!!

One word of warning - it's very commendable that you're getting involved with your community and actaully giving a toss; just be careful not to make yourself indespensable. Soon you'll have ewveryone knocking at your door for everything!