THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

ABOUT WATER DISINFECTION

 
Take these steps
to prevent water
pipe freeze-ups
this year

 

With winter in full swing, now’s a good time to make sure your inside water pipes don’t freeze. Here are some things you can do to prevent that:

·  Inspect and protect pipes that run along outside walls, above the ceiling or behind paneling in finished basements.

·  Replace any broken basement windows and cover them with plastic for extra winter protection.

·  Keep your basement adequately heated.

·  If your home has a crawl space, make sure it’s weather tight and heated at least enough to keep the pipes from freezing when it gets really cold. If you’ve had trouble before, wrap your water pipes with heat tape covered with insulation.

If you wake up with no water some cold winter morning, there are some things you can do before calling a plumber. Go to your basement and feel along the water pipes that run past windows or poorly protected areas. You’ll be able to locate cold spots that will indicate where your water line has frozen. You can thaw pipes quickly and safely with a hair dryer.

Deadly water-borne diseases like cholera are still common in many underdeveloped countries but are virtually unheard of in the United States.

Disinfection of drinking water kills disease-causing organisms found in all water supplies and has made many once-common diseases a thing of the distant past in our country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes disinfection of drinking water as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century.

Chlorine has repeatedly been shown to be the most effective, safe and economical of the disinfectants available. Either of two forms of chlorine is commonly used in this country: free chlorine and chloramine. For the last half-century, the BWL has applied chloramine to the drinking water it supplies to the area. Chloramine is a stable form of chlorine that provides a more persistent disinfectant residual than does free chlorine. It carries almost none of the taste and odor common to systems that use free chlorine, and produces fewer disinfection by-products that can be a health concern.

While chloramine treatment is a tremendous health benefit to the drinking water supply, certain specialty water users need to be aware of its presence.

 

HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Hemodialysis patients and their physicians need to know when chloramine is used in their water supply so they can take necessary precautions.

 

LABORATORIES

Operators of laboratories or other specialty water uses should adjust pre-treatment to accommodate chloramine residuals in their tap water.

 

TROPICAL FISH

If you have tropical fish, the treatment for a chloramine system is different from one treated with free chlorine. Your tropical fish dealer can advise you on how you should treat your aquarium.

If you have questions about treatment of the BWL’s drinking water, click here, or call BWL Water Quality Administrator Bill Maier at 702-6813.

GOING SOUTH FOR THE WINTER?

HERE’S ONE WAY TO SAVE

 

Some ways to

save on your

energy bill

If you’re interested in saving significant money on your energy bill, investment in a programmable thermostat makes a lot of sense.

Heating and cooling account for nearly 50 percent of the average home energy use, so paying attention to this area can have a major impact. Programmable thermostats can save 10 percent on heating and cooling costs if you turn back your thermostat by 10 percent to 15 percent for eight hours. In the winter that means lowering the temperature setting while you’re gone during the day or sleeping at night. In the summer it means turning the setting up so the air conditioner doesn’t run as much while you’re gone.

Here are some other things you can do to reduce heating and cooling costs:

· Have your furnace checked every year by a professional to make sure it’s operating correctly.

· Clean or replace furnace filters once a month or as needed.

· During the heating season, keep draperies and shades on the south side of your home open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter. Close them at night.

Click here for more energy tips.

If you’re one of those snow birds who flies away to warmer climates this time of year, you may want to consider turning off your water service while you’re gone.

Sometimes we get complaints from customers who are surprised to find water bills waiting for them following an absence of a few months. They don’t understand why they owe money when they haven’t used any water.

The answer is that only part of your monthly water bill is based on consumption. The rest is a fixed charge to cover costs we incur regardless of usage. These include things like customer service, billing, and the cost of keeping and maintaining our water plants.

The fixed monthly charge is based on the size of your water service. For customers with a 5/8-inch meter, that’s $6.60
per month. For customers with a 3/4-inch meter, it’s
$9.24 per month. Those charges appear on your bill each month, even if you don’t use any water.

Some customers choose to have their water shut off if they’re going to be gone for more than a month or two, avoiding the monthly charge for both water and sewer. When they return, we turn their service back on for a reconnection fee of $7.

There’s another reason you may want to consider turning off your service if you plan to be gone for an extended period. A dripping faucet or leaky toilet can add up to a lot of water consumption that will go undetected while you’re gone. Worse yet, a frozen water pipe while you’re basking in the sun down south can result in a real headache—and a big bill— when you return home. You can order a service shut-off by calling our Customer Service Department at 702-6006.