City of Saginaw issued the following announcement on Nov 1.
The City of Saginaw would like to announce to residents that water shut-offs will resume on Monday, November 8 for any resident for failure to respond to notices requesting access to metering equipment or service line inspection.
The city is currently experiencing problems being able to enter into some homes to check the metering equipment or water service material types (lead, galvanized or copper). Without proper examination of the metering equipment, the homeowner may be left with a high bill due to the fact that the city could not get the read or fix the equipment.
In the past, the city has turned off service for failure to respond to notices for zero read, meter error messages, or high read meters (possible error). This is done to make sure that the meter is in proper working order – it protects the customer from high bills due to leaks or meter errors, and protects the water system if there is use but the meter is not registering. Failure to comply with the service line material check also prevents the city from complying with State of Michigan regulatory requirements and prevents the city from staying on schedule with our water service line replacement program.
City Staff are currently leaving notices on customer’s doors stating that access is needed to the water meter and lines, however many requests are being ignored. This is also true for the water line replacement and verification crews; staff are leaving cards and voice mails to do inspections and replacements per the State of Michigan regulatory requirements, but are getting no response from many property owners.
In order to maintain the system and compliance with the lead/copper service line replacement program, the city must resume shut offs on Monday, November 8 for failure to comply with these notices. Customers will be notified 10 days prior to any shut off – which will only occur after multiple attempts to contact them.
The city has paused water shutoffs for non-payment for several months. The
only water shutoffs that were being done were due to a potential cross connection, emergency turn off due to broken pipes, and accounts that were requested to be closed and finalized. At this time the city is not resuming shutoffs due to non-payment.
“The Maintenance and Service Division needs to be able to do its job. We need to be able to access meters for a multitude of reasons. When the homeowners do not respond and allow us into the homes to inspect meters and water lines, this is a potential liability for the city and could be very costly for the customer. I encourage any resident that receives one of these notices to contact our Maintenance and Service Division immediately” Phil Karwat, Director of Public Services.
For additional questions on the metering equipment notices, please contact Water Billing (989) 759-1450. All questions on lead water line replacement and verification should be directed to Maintenance and Service (989)759-1639.
Original source can be found here.
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