New York, NY – Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Cas Holloway today launched a new program to save homeowners money by proactively notifying them of potential water leaks when unusual activity or spikes in usage are detected by DEP.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The Leak Notification Program will enable homeowners to quickly respond to potential leaks and fix them before they become a costly problem.
The program is made possible by the City’s $252 million investment in wireless meter readers, which provide water consumption data four times per day instead of once per quarter and allows homeowners, businesses and DEP to track water use in real time.
Spikes in water use could indicate a leak that could substantially increase a homeowner’s water bill if not quickly addressed. Mayor Bloomberg proposed the Leak Notification Program in his 2011 State of the City address and the initiative is a component of DEP’s strategic plan.
“By applying the most up-to-date technology to one of our oldest and most basic city services, we can ensure homeowners prevent hundreds or even thousands of dollars from going down the drain,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Homeowners will no longer see a quarterly bill and be shocked by a wild increase caused by an unknown leak. It’s all possible because of our constant commitment to finding ways to use new technology to make government more efficient, innovative and customer-focused.”
“NYC Simplicity is focused on using technology to improve New Yorkers’ interactions with their government,” said Deputy Mayor Goldsmith. “By alerting them to material increases in their water use, this leak notification program will keep customers informed and save them money in the process.”
“Having a leak in your home is bad enough, but finding out about it months later and having to pay for all the wasted water is even worse,” said Commissioner Holloway. “Thanks to the wireless meter readers we’re installing at 835,000 locations around the City, customers who sign up for leak notifications will be alerted within a few days if their water use spikes, so they can figure out if they have a leak and fix it right away – saving time, money and heartache. This is the kind of real-time service that Mayor Bloomberg has continued to deliver to New Yorkers by leveraging the information that City agencies collect as part of our daily work. DEP will continue to develop new applications for wireless meter reading to help New Yorkers manage their water use, and make our core operations more transparent and efficient.”
A quarter billion dollars to tell people they have a leak. Insanity.
does anyone know how u sign up please post it here
I was in London, UK a few weeks ago. I was struck by radio ads placed by Thames Water, the local utility company, offering an amnesty to consumers who – through absolutely no fault of their own – had not been billed for water usages for tens of years!
Meanwhile, here in EY, we (and our neighbors) are suffering one of the worst droughts for many years.