All water meters belonging to the Town shall
be placed by a plumber contracted by the property owner. It shall
be kept in repair and the owner of the building served shall be responsible
for any damage caused by negligence of the owner or tenant. The Engineer
shall determine, in each case of damage, the cause and cost of replacement
or repair.
No meter or bypass valve shall be disconnected
from the pipes, moved, disturbed or have its seal broken by any person
except an authorized employee of the Town.
The customer shall notify the Town's office
of any injury to or cessation of registration of a meter as soon as
it comes to his knowledge.
All properties within the corporate limits of
the Town of Selbyville shall be equipped with an adequate water meter
furnished by the Town but paid for by the property owner. All such
water meters, when installed, shall be owned, maintained, repaired
and replaced by the Town of Selbyville.
All properties served by the public water supply
of the Town of Selbyville and not equipped with the water meter furnished
by the Town shall be so equipped in accordance with the following
schedule:
A. All existing residential users shall be equipped with
a water meter pursuant to this Part 1.
B. All existing business users, commercial users, industrial
users or any other use other than a residential use shall be equipped
with a water meter pursuant to this Part 1.
C. Any building for which a building permit is granted
to construct a building after the enactment of this Part 1 shall be
equipped with an installed water meter required by this Part 1.
All water meters shall be installed in the ground
pursuant to the specifications of the Town of Selbyville in a location
that will be easy to access by representatives of the Town of Selbyville
unless an exception shall be granted by the Town Council.
If there is evidence that there has been tampering
with the water meter installed pursuant to the provisions of this
Part 1 in order that the water meter will not register accurately
the amount of water used, water usage shall be billed at twice the
highest bill for water usage for the previous 12 months.
For any building in which there is more than
one user and for which one water meter has been installed to measure
water usage, there shall be charged in addition to the water measured
by the meter a minimum charge for each user as fixed from time to
time by the Town Council.
It shall be unlawful for any person, after a
water meter has been installed pursuant to the terms of this Part
1 to bypass a meter in order to receive water without it being measured
by the water meter or to tamper with a meter or by any other means
in order that water usage to the property which is being served cannot
be measured accurately.
The quantity of water recorded by the meter
shall be conclusive on both the customer and the Town except when
the meter has been found to be registering inaccurately or has ceased
to register. In either case, the meter shall be promptly repaired
or replaced by the Town, and the quantity of water consumed shall
be estimated by an average or previous readings of the meter when
in good working order during as many as two recorded periods of the
same period in previous years but in no case less than the minimum
charge.