DECATUR – DeKalb County Board of Commissioners has approved a plan requiring all new multi-family buildings (i.e. apartments, town homes and condominiums) be built with individual water meters or sub-unit meters that will bill the customer based on the volume of use. This plan will be effective June 1, 2008, for all new building projects.

The new plan will allow water use in each unit of a multi-family building to be tracked and for each resident to be billed for his or her actual water usage. Individual meters and sub-meters will benefit DeKalb County residents because each resident will now be billed individually for actual water usage as opposed to billing based on usage for an entire building. The new meter requirement will also enable the Department of Watershed Management (DWM) to locate possible leaks if unusually high water usage is detected.

This new plan will ensure that residents of apartments, townhomes and condominiums are responsible for his or her water usage. The new plan will also help hold individual tenants accountable for non-payment of association fees without punishing other residents.

For more information, please visit www.dekalbwatershed.com.