Save money, save water with WaterSmart

Have you ever opened a water bill and thought, there is no way we used that much water?

Sometimes, what seems like excessive usage can be as simple and aggravating as a stuck toilet handle.

Councilor David Pickel was on vacation with his family when he got an alert from the city's WaterSmart customer portal saying his water use was spiking, even though no one was home.

"Being an insurance agent, I start having the worst-case scenarios going through my head," Pickel said. "I got a horrible vision of my house being flooded while I was gone."

Pickel's email alert said his water usage had spiked over the last 24 hours.

Customers can set notifications for higher-than-normal water usage, and alerts can also be configured to notify customers when their usage exceeds pre-set daily thresholds.

Pickel reached out to his neighbor and asked him to go into his house and assess the damage. When the neighbor checked inside, he found that a toilet handle was stuck, causing the Pickels' water use to increase substantially in a short time. The neighbor adjusted the handle, saving the Pickel family money and water.

"A simple jiggle fixed the problem," Pickel said.

How much water did his family use because of that stuck handle? Over a four-day period, 11,912 gallons of water, roughly 2,978 gallons each day, passed through the Pickels' meter. To put that number in perspective, his household used 123 gallons of water the day before the handle got stuck and 8 gallons the day after the handle was unstuck.

"It was very easy to set up," he said. "I'm very glad that we did set it up because, you know, it does save not only money, but it also saves water usage in Broken Arrow."

Get started today saving money and tracking your water usage by following the step-by-step instructions and videos on the WaterSmart FAQS page on the City of Broken Arrow website.