Standard Policy For The Department of Public Works Howard County Maryland
Use of Water Only Submeters for Commercial and Industrial Water/Sewer Accounts
SP Number - BoU 2-11
Approve By/Date - Jeff Welty, Deputy Bureau Chief, 01/09/2012
Effective Date - 12/06/2011
Water Only Submeter Policy and Permit Application
(PDF file - 489 Kb )
Purpose
This Standard Policy describes Howard County’s Policy to provide water submeters for commercial and industrial water and sewer accounts for the purpose of deducting metered water from the sanitary sewer bill for water which does not enter the County’s sanitary sewer system.
Scope
This Policy is applicable only to Commercial Accounts and Industrial Accounts, as defined, connected to the Howard County public water and sewer system located within the Metropolitan District, and with the following uses, as defined:
- Cooling Towers
- Public Swimming Pool
- Commercial Irrigation System
- Industrial Process Water
- Commercial Laundry
- Accounts with submeters installed before the effective date of this Policy will be subject to this Policy at the time of any change or modification to the submeter structure of the existing submetered account.
Policy
Howard County wishes to promote the use of submeters for Commercial Accounts and Industrial Accounts, as defined, that have certain uses of metered water. The Howard County Department of Public Works, Bureau of Utilities, is responsible for administering this policy.
Definitions
- Water Only Submeter – A privately owned and maintained water meter with an electronic register/encoder that is installed on the downstream side of a Howard County owned water meter servicing a specific process or application.
- Sewer Effluent Meter - A privately owned and maintained sewer meter with an electronic register/encoder that is installed on the downstream side of a Water Only Submeter servicing a specific process or application.
- Water Master Meter – The main water meter, owned by Howard County, which carries a water and sewer charge to the Applicant’s account and to which the Water Only Submeter and Sewer Effluent Meter are linked in the Department of Finance’s billing system.
- Standard Sanitary Sewer Return Rate - A percentage of the Water Only Submeter reading that is considered by Howard County to be returned to the sanitary sewer as part of the process, and deducted from the Water Only Submeter usage reading. The Standard Sanitary Sewer Return Rate, for those processes or uses that Howard County has approved, may be used by the applicant in lieu of a Sewer Effluent Meter. The approved uses and the corresponding rate are listed in this policy.
- Commercial Account – A Howard County public water and sewer account that is a non-manufacturing business establishment including hotels, restaurants, retail stores, warehouses, storage facilities and health, social, and educational institutions.
- Industrial Account - Any Howard County public water and sewer account that is involved in manufacturing, food processing, metal processing, or other production facility used to produce goods.
- Bureau of Utilities – The division within the Department of Public Works for Howard County Maryland that is tasked with operating and maintaining the public water and wastewater services within the County.
- Applicant – The entity applying for a Commercial Account or Industrial Account Water Only Submeter.
- Howard County DPW will make the final determination as to the classification of the account, the applicability of a Water Only Submeter and a Sewer Effluent Meter.
- Note: if the use of the submeter water changes from the use stated in the permit a new application shall be submitted in order to assure continued submeter benefit.
- In Aid of Construction charges - The In Aid of Construction Charges are applicable to the Water Master Meter Only, not the submeters. If the property is hooked to the public sewer in any fashion, the In Aid of Construction charge will be collected at the full rate without any discount for a submeter.
- Public Swimming Pool - " means any structure, chamber, or tank containing an artificial body of water used by for swimming, diving, wading, recreation, or therapy, together with buildings, appurtenances, and equipment used in connection with the body of water, regardless of whether a fee is charged for its use, except a private swimming pool serving a single family residence. The term includes municipal, community, school, hotel, motel, apartment, boarding house, athletic club, or other membership facility pools and spas.
- Cooling Tower - A cooling tower is a heat rejection device, which extracts waste heat to the atmosphere though the cooling of a water stream to a lower temperature. The type of heat rejection in a cooling tower is termed "evaporative" in that it allows a small portion of the water being cooled to evaporate into a moving air stream to provide cooling.
- Commercial Irrigation System – A turf or landscape watering system for a Commercial Account that applies water by means of an above ground or subsurface sprinkler system, with no connection to the public sewer.
- Industrial Process Water – Water used to facilitate an industrial process by chemical or mechanical operations that result in the manufacture of a product.
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