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I have an emergency, how do I contact you? |
During normal working hours you may call 603-239-4951 ext. 105 to talk to one of our staff members. If you receive no answer call Town Hall at 603-239-4951 ext. 110 and explain your situation to the person who answers the phone, they will have several ways of contacting us during an emergency. If your emergency is after normal working hours you may call the Winchester Police Department 24hrs a day at 603-239-4814 and they will contact our on-call personel.
I have a higher than normal water bill, what do I do? |
There are several actions that can be taken to deduce why your bill is higher than normal. First check all of the water fixtures in and around your house for leaks and/or proper functioning. A dripping water faucet can account for 25 or more gallons per day and steady streams of water contributing hundreds of gallons per day to your water bill. With our experience we have found that toilets are more prone to leaks than any other fixture. Open the toilet tank and inspect the overflow and adjust the float to keep the tank level approximately 1? below the top of the overflow tube. You can also put food coloring, Kool-Aid or any other biodegradable coloring into the toilet tank and watch for the water in the toilet bowl to change colors. A color change in the toilet bowl can indicate that there is a leak in the flapper valve that is located at
the bottom of the toilet tank. Replacing the internals of the typical toilet costs around $15 for do-it-yourselfers and should take less than an hour to accomplish. You can also call your plumber to assist you with this repair. Water lines that feed from the house to a garden, barn or other part of the property is always a suspect in a high bill. These lines may have leaks in them that do not appear above ground. When not in use we suggest that these lines be shut off at the house to reduce the risk of leaks and a high water bill. After you have checked your home and repaired the leaks that were found, you may call the Water Department to check your usage with a new meter reading and for more assistance in locating leaks.
I need to have my water shut off to make repairs in my home, how do I make this arrangement? |
Call the Water Department during normal working hours and make an appointment to have us shut your water off at the street. We do ask that you give us a couple of days advance notice to ensure that we are available to have the water off during your planned repairs. We have found that if you are having a plumber making your repairs that your plumber should contact us directly to make these arrangements for easier scheduling. For emergency repairs call our office during normal working hours or the Winchester Police Department for emergencies that occur after our normal working hours.
I turned my faucet on and got no water, why not? |
Here are a few of the common reasons not to have water when you go to use it.
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Some of our customers fail to pay their water bill on time. When this occurs we are authorized to shut water off until the bill is paid or other arrangements to make payment are made. If you have not paid your water bill this may be a possible cause of having no water, a call to our office or to the Tax Collector can answer this if you suspect your bill has not been paid. |
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Check your plumbing to ensure it is not broken, frozen or a valve that may be unknowingly closed. During extreme cold and low water usage in your home, your plumbing or service line can freeze even if this even has never happened in the past. If you believe your plumbing or service line is frozen, contact us and we will assist in solving this problem. |
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A water main break or a major fire can consume thousands of gallons of water a minute and may diminish the capacity of our system to deliver water to our customers in the areas affected. |
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When repairs are made by the Water Department we are often required to shut the water mains down in order to make these repairs. During emergencies we may not be able to give notice of these shut downs but during scheduled repairs or maintenance we strive to notify our customers that water in their area may be affected. |
What are "Misc. Charges" on my bill? |
There are many categories of "Misc. Charges" that could be listed on your bill. Some are past amounts due, interest on past due amounts, services or parts that the Water Department has provided to you, fees for turning on or off your water for various reasons and dozens of other charges that are to numerous to list. For questions on your Misc. Charges you can call the Water Department for an explanation.
My water pressure or water volume has been decreasing over time, what is causing this problem? |
We will discuss a few of the major reasons for this problem.
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Many homes have pressure-regulating devices installed; occasionally they need adjustment or replacement to work properly. |
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A leak in your service line may be the culprit. A leak never goes away but it does steadily get larger, the larger the leak the less water volume and pressure you may see in your home. |
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On occasion debris may build up in your plumbing especially in the aerators/strainers of your faucets and water using appliances. Periodic cleaning of all of your faucets, laundry machines, dishwashers, shower heads, hot water tank and other water using devices will help to keep them clean and to give them a longer service life to you and your family. |
The plumbing in my house appears to be leaking or sweating, what is the cause of this and how do I fix it? |
This "sweating" is actually condensation building up on the outside of your pipes. This condensation is due to the cold water inside your pipes and the humid air on the outside of your pipes which produces the "sweating" or "leaking" that you see. To rid yourself of this problem you can insulate your pipes with pre-formed pipe insulation that is available at most hardware and department stores. You can also set up fans to keep the air circulating around your pipes to reduce or prevent condensation from forming. Another solution, but a more expensive one, is to install dehumidifiers near your plumbing. A dehumidifier will remove moisture in the air and produce dryer conditions throughout your home, which eliminates conditions that must exist to have condensation form.
I am selling/buying a house in Winchester that has Town water, what must I do to have a smooth transition from one owner to the next? |
Your lawyer, realtor or Title Company should contact us at least several days before final closing. After they give us this notification we will read the water meter and generate a final bill to be settled at the closing. The seller of the property is the one normally responsible to pay this bill unless there is an agreement with all parties involved in the sale or purchase. If a final water bill is not settled at the closing, the new owner will be held responsible for this bill. Also, the new owner should contact us soon after the final closing and give us the current contact information that will be used to update our files.
There is water running down the road, whom do I call? |
The first thing to do is to look around and see if any work is in progress in the area and to check the weather. If it has recently rained, look at where the storm drains are located, are they plugged or damaged? If they are then a call to the Winchester Highway Department is the appropriate action to take. Also, the Water Department maybe flushing a hydrant or pumping out a trench where work is taking place. There are areas in town where natural springs occur and these springs are many times the culprit, you may ask a long time resident of the neighborhood if they are aware of any springs in the area. Then of course there are true water main breaks or leaks that we unfortunately get from time to time. If you cannot easily identify where the water is coming from, feel free to call the Water Department and we will investigate and determine
where the water is coming from and make repairs if necessary or contact the proper authority who has the responsibility for that particular situation.
I have a blue/green stain in my sinks, shower and toilet, what is causing this? |
The blue/green stains that are commonly present in sinks and other fixtures are due to copper in the water. When the interior of copper pipes corrode or dissolves, the water that is used in your home may deposit some of this copper corrosion in your sinks, toilets, showers and other water using fixtures. Our water has a trace amount of copper in it and is well below the amounts allowed by the Federal and State governments. Most copper found in drinking water is due to the copper being dissolved from the water service, your plumbing and your plumbing fixtures. It has been found by scientific studies that up to 80% of the copper that is leached into the water in a customer home is from faucets within the home. We add a chemical to reduce this type of corrosion but it is not intended to fix this problem 100% but to reduce the possibility of high
concentrations copper in your water. The Winchester Water Department recommends the use of Lime Away, CLR, Red Be Gone and similar cleaning agents to remove these stains, please check the manufacturers instructions for cleaning your particular fixture and to follow the instructions on the label of the cleaner you choose to use.
When I run my water I can hear a noise that sounds like it is coming from my plumbing, what could be causing this? |
This is a popular question with very few definite answers. Occasionally the water meter maybe the culprit due to uneven wearing of the internal parts or from debris that has built up inside the meter to interfere with the normal movement of the meter parts. Another possibility is the expansion or contraction of your pipes as they cool or heat. As the pipes expand or contract they can rub or slip within the pipe hangers or clamps. Air bubbles inside your pipes can also cause noise in your plumbing. Whenever work is done on your plumbing, or when we have a water main break, air is let into the plumbing and can cause noise inside the pipes as the bubbles move about. A solution to this, or to confirm if this is the cause, is to open your faucets and let the water run to remove the trapped air bubbles
Where does the Winchester Water Department get its operating funds? |
The Winchester Water Department is solely funded through revenues that are brought in by the sale of water to our customers, connection fees for new services, fees for sprinkler systems, hydrant flow test fees and for services that we have provided to our customers. The Water Department does not negatively affect taxes and draws no money from them either. With proper staffing and equipment we can assist other town departments which decreases their need for outside assistance which in turn allows their budgets to be more easily managed and with less demand from town taxes, this also works in reverse, when we receive assistance from another town department this decreases our need to raise water rates and fees.
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