It rains most of the year on the North Coast, which makes it easy for an Arcata, California landlord to forget that water still costs money, right up until the bill arrives with every tenant’s usage rolled into one number. Water submetering separates it. Cal Poly Humboldt fills Arcata’s rental stock, much of it aging homes and small multifamily owned by individual landlords, the kind of older plumbing where a slow leak can run for months without anyone mentioning it. Tenants who pay flat rent have no reason to notice. True Submeter puts an individual water meter on each unit, flags unusual usage, and invoices every tenant automatically for exactly what they used, so the full water bill comes back to the owner. Consumption drops once it has a price, questions about the water charge answer themselves, and net operating income rises, with the system usually paying for itself inside six months. Rain is free. The water coming out of your tenants’ taps is not.
