The mills that earned Willimantic, Connecticut the name Thread City closed long ago, but the housing they left behind still defines the rental market: dense two- and three-family homes and small converted buildings, nearly all served by one water meter. Connecticut’s water and sewer rates sit well above the national average, so a single meter on a three-unit house is an expensive arrangement for whoever owns it. Water submetering ends it. Eastern Connecticut State University keeps a rotating student population in this stock alongside working households, tenants who move often and have no window into what water costs. True Submeter puts an individual water meter on each unit and bills every tenant automatically for their own use, so the water bill returns to the owner. Consumption falls once it is priced, disputes over splitting a bill disappear, and net operating income improves. The mills are gone. The single meter does not have to stay.
