ᐅ Outdoor water meter / garden water meter

Hello everyone,

Today I don’t have a problem or question, but rather a tip to share:

We don’t have a rainwater tank, so we have been using a lot of water from our outdoor faucet for watering our "garden" (currently just growing lawn) and for work on our outdoor area (mixing concrete, etc.). This, of course, incurs both fresh water and wastewater charges. However, since this water does not go into the sewer system, I looked into it:

In our municipality (this can be regulated differently by each municipality in their wastewater regulations), it is possible to install a so-called garden water meter / outdoor water meter.

Regulations in our municipality (may vary elsewhere):

• A calibrated meter can be installed by yourself (available online with mounting materials for under 30 euros; these meters are certified for 6 years)
• The meter must be accessible to the municipality if required (for reading)
• The meter reading must be submitted to the municipality by January 15
• No wastewater fees are charged for the water used once the consumption exceeds 10 cubic meters (why it starts at 10, neither I nor the municipal official know, but that is what the regulation states :rolleyes)
• I found this information in the wastewater fee statute and the wastewater fee increase statute

Wastewater charges are 3.75 euros per cubic meter here. That means if over the certified 6 years I use a total of 8 cubic meters above the minimum consumption, the meter will have already paid for itself.

If I had known and implemented this at the beginning of the outdoor work, I would have saved the cost by now.

Maybe this tip will help someone else as well.