Nothing sours a landlord-tenant relationship in Johnson City, Tennessee faster than a fight over a water bill nobody can itemize, and when East Tennessee State students split one master bill, that fight is guaranteed. Water submetering settles it by giving every unit its own reading. Johnson City anchors the Tri-Cities, and its off-campus housing is largely older homes and small apartment buildings owned by individual landlords who rent to a steady flow of ETSU students. Bundle water into the rent and you are both the bank and the referee for everyone’s usage. True Submeter puts an individual water meter on each unit and bills each tenant automatically for their own consumption, so the arguments stop and you recover the full bill. Usage drops once tenants pay their own way, and net operating income rises with it, most owners recovering the whole cost inside six months. Bill what each unit actually uses, and the disputes take care of themselves.
