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Madison vs. Waynesville
State considers restricting sale of water keys
Some residents use the keys, sold at plumbing supply stores, to illegally access public water.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
About once a week, Dayton water department workers discover that someone whose water was shut off for non-payment is suddenly enjoying the convenience of flushing toilets, getting glasses of water from the tap and turning on the shower.
Sometimes, the resident with the delinquent bill uses a "water key" — a long metal rod with a bracket on one end and a long handle on the other. Insert the key into the water box buried in the front lawn, turn, and the water starts flowing again.
Brian Pester, owner of Pester Plumbing Inc. in Dayton, holds a water key. State lawmakers are considering a bill to prohibit the sale of water keys to people who are not licensed plumbers. Some customers who have had their water turned off because of nonpayment have used the keys to turn the water back on. Pester said he loses a couple of water keys a year to theft.The keys, sold at plumbing supply stores, cost between $35 and $65.
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would permit the sale of water keys only to licensed plumbers.
"We got a policy that once you buy them, they're non-returnable. And with the price, they think twice about it," said Scott McNeely, salesman at Pickrel Bros. Inc., a plumbing supply store in Dayton. He estimates that Pickrel sells 50 water keys a year.
In the last 12 months, the city of Dayton did 20,000 shut offs on its 70,000 accounts and 49 times someone had turned it back on again, according to city officials.
"We do not have a big problem with that here in Dayton but it does happen," said Dayton spokesman Tom Biedenharn. People who turn their water back on get assessed $100 the first time, $100 the second time, and $1,500 the third time, he said.
The city supports the bill, Biedenharn added.
Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1624 or lbischoff@DaytonDaily
News.com.
