Water Submetering Guide
TL;DR - Water costs are climbing fast for mobile home park owners, driven by aging pipes, hidden leaks, and outdated billing methods. Submetering-installing individual meters at each lot-helps owners recover costs, detect leaks, and cut total usage by 20-40%. This guide explains why water infrastructure challenges are growing, how submetering works, what the real ROI looks like, and how modern solutions (such as SimpleSUB’s clamp-on meters) make implementation simple and compliant.
Across the country, water and sewer expenses have surged in recent years. Many park owners have watched their utility bills rise by 25-30% in just five years—a trend confirmed by national analyses of water rates. Municipal utilities typically pass rate increases directly to customers, but master-metered mobile home parks often have no choice but to absorb those hikes. Unless the park can offset the cost, every price increase eats into the owner’s net operating income (NOI).
At the same time, aging infrastructure in mobile home parks is driving up costs in less obvious ways. A review by the Associated Press found that nearly 70% of mobile home parks running their own small water systems violated safe drinking-water rules at least once in a five-year period. This reflects decades of underinvestment: many park water networks were installed in the 1960s-80s and have never been comprehensively mapped or upgraded.
Old galvanized or PVC pipes develop leaks and corrosion; unknown cross-connections and unmetered outlets can allow thousands of gallons a day to escape without anyone noticing. Every one of those gallons still registers on the park’s single master meter - meaning the owner is paying for water that never reaches a resident’s tap.
Because most parks bill residents using one master meter (often bundling water into rent or charging a flat monthly fee), there is zero visibility into where water is going or being wasted. If 10,000 gallons per month are leaking underground due to a cracked line, the park pays for it and the tenants never know.
With water included in rent or charged at a flat rate, residents have no incentive to conserve or report drips and running toilets. The result is an escalating, unpredictable water cost that directly erodes NOI. In short, the traditional model leaves park owners carrying all the risk of rising rates and hidden leaks - a financially unsustainable position as utility costs climb.
In a typical master-meter setup, the city sells water to the park through one or two bulk meters at the property boundary. The park’s private distribution lines then carry that water to dozens or hundreds of individual homes. Any leakage along the way - from aging service lines, cracked fittings, or a continuously running toilet - simply shows up as higher usage on the master bill. The owner pays for all water that passes the master meter, regardless of whether it’s actually used or lost. This creates a significant blind spot where thousands of dollars can literally be leaking into the ground.
Small, undetected leaks can meaningfully inflate a park’s water consumption. According to industry data summarizing RUBS vs. submetering impacts, even a single “invisible” leak (for example, an underground pipe crack or a slow toilet flapper leak) can increase a community’s total water use by 10-25% without obvious signs. Individually, these leaks might be modest, but across an entire property they add up quickly. For instance, a pinhole-sized 1/32-inch leak can waste roughly 264 gallons per day (nearly 8,000 gallons a month). A slightly larger 1/8-inch leak loses almost 3,800 gallons per day. Now consider a leaking toilet: the U.S. EPA notes that a single running toilet can waste about 200 gallons every day - over 6,000 gallons a month from one fixture. In practice, some leaky toilets have been recorded at 0.4 gallons per minute, which adds up to nearly 20,000 gallons in a month if left unfixed. Depending on local water rates, that one toilet could cost $100-$250 in wasted water in a month. If the resident isn’t paying for water, the owner foots that bill. Multiply this by a few undetected leaks, and it’s easy to see how a park’s water bill can spiral out of control.
Real-world examples underscore the stakes. In one community, a foreclosed mobile home sat vacant with a toilet flapper stuck open. Because the park had no submeter on that home, the toilet ran unnoticed for weeks, sending water straight into the sewer. By the time it was discovered, over 50,000 gallons had been wasted in under a month. The park owner paid for every gallon, and only caught the problem when an astronomical water bill arrived. These kinds of hidden losses are not as rare as one might think - without individual meters, a minor maintenance issue can become a major expense. Essentially, those who conserve water end up subsidizing those who unknowingly (or carelessly) waste water.
Park owners have tried various methods to control these losses, but with limited success. Some bundle a flat water fee into the lot rent to recover an average cost per home. Others use RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System), dividing the master-meter bill among residents according to a formula (often based on occupancy or home size). While RUBS and flat fees can distribute some of the cost to residents, they rarely reduce usage. Why? Because the residents’ bills are not tied to their actual behavior. Under RUBS, if one tenant leaves a hose running, everyone’s bill goes up a little - the cost is diluted across the community. The wasteful user doesn’t feel the full consequence, so there’s little incentive to change habits. As a result, studies have shown that RUBS has minimal impact on conservation. The U.S. EPA has even been cited to the effect that “RUBS or other allocation billing systems…do not encourage water conservation”. The reason is simple: with RUBS, the marginal cost to an individual of using an extra gallon is effectively zero, since they share the cost with all their neighbors. Flat-rate billing is similarly blind to usage - a household that fixes a leak or installs efficient fixtures would still pay the same flat fee, so why bother?
In contrast, actual submetering (measuring each home’s use directly) creates a direct price signal, which does change behavior. A study summarized by the EPA’s WaterSense program found that residents in submetered multifamily units used about 15% less water than those in units without individual meters. Other analyses have documented even greater effects: the Arizona Manufactured Housing Communities Association (in partnership with a submetering provider) reported that overall park water usage tends to drop 25-30% after installing individual meters. In essence, when residents can see their own consumption and are held accountable for it, they “waste that much less water” (to quote one apartment management executive who retrofitted his properties). By contrast, RUBS and flat fees were found to have no consistent conservation benefit in those same studies. The takeaway for park owners is clear: if you want to stop paying for undetected leaks and encourage sensible usage, you need actual meters on each home.
Water submetering means installing individual water meters on each lot or unit and billing each resident for the water they personally use. Instead of relying on one master meter for the whole park, the owner and residents can see exactly how many gallons each home consumes (just as they would in a single-family house served directly by the city). Practically, the park still buys water through the master meter, but now the costs can be passed through to each tenant in proportion to their usage. Submetering turns water into a transparent, consumption-based utility rather than an opaque shared expense.
The concept isn’t new - submetering has been used in apartments and condos for decades - but historically it was often difficult to implement in older mobile home parks. Traditional submetering involved plumbing new meters into each lot’s water supply line, which meant digging trenches or crawling under homes to cut into pipes. Many park owners were deterred by the upfront cost and disruption of installation. Fortunately, modern submetering systems have come a long way.
There are now non-invasive “clamp-on” meters that can be installed without any pipe cutting or even shutting off the water. For example, SimpleSUB and similar providers offer ultrasonic flow sensors that strap onto the outside of an existing pipe (whether copper, PVC, or PEX) in a matter of minutes (see a Colorado case study). These devices use advanced sensors to measure water flow through the pipe wall, and they transmit the data wirelessly (often via cellular signal, so no on-site Wi-Fi network is needed).
This plug-and-play approach makes it feasible to submeter even older parks where the plumbing infrastructure is hard to access or there are no shut-off valves. In one case, a 50-lot community in Colorado received quotes of over $125,000 for a traditional submeter retrofit involving excavation and plumber labor - but by using clamp-on cellular meters, they completed the installation for about one-quarter of that cost and in under two weeks (details here; and the leak-prevention outcomes). The bottom line: today’s technology has largely removed the headaches that used to come with submetering projects.
Why does submetering work so well at reducing consumption? The key is accountability.
When residents know they are paying for every gallon that flows through their faucet, behavior changes quickly and naturally. People start taking simple conservation steps they might have ignored before - fixing that toilet that runs continuously, not overwatering the lawn, reporting a drip under their home, taking shorter showers, etc. One utility submetering company reports typical reductions in water use of 20% to 40% once individual meters and bills are in place. Essentially, the “invisible” waste disappears because it’s no longer invisible; each household sees the direct benefit of stopping leaks and cutting excess use. This isn’t just theory - it’s been observed time and again. For example, after one mobile home park switched from flat fees to metered billing, the few residents who had been using 10,000-20,000 gallons a month (far above average) quickly corrected course when their first usage-based bills came in (MHCA example). They fixed leaks (or changed habits like not leaving hoses running) once they bore the cost themselves. Meanwhile, residents who were already frugal with water weren’t unfairly subsidizing the heavier users any longer.
Submetering not only promotes conservation, it also equips owners with powerful tools to maintain their water system. Because modern submeters log data in real time, leak detection becomes much easier. Many systems will automatically alert management if a particular home’s usage never drops to zero over, say, a 24-hour period - a strong sign of a leak like a running toilet or a pipe break. Think of it this way: if the park’s total metered usage is significantly higher than the sum of the individual meters, there’s likely a hidden leak in the main lines or an unmetered connection somewhere. With submeters, this kind of discrepancy is immediately measurable, turning what used to be an invisible problem into a visible one. Park managers can literally “balance” the water going in versus the water being billed out to pinpoint losses. If the numbers don’t add up, you know to investigate for underground leaks or unauthorized use. This diagnostic power allows owners to catch leaks early - before they run for months and rack up massive costs. In the Colorado case mentioned above, when they installed SimpleSUB’s system, the real-time data revealed several issues within days. The system flagged seven different lots with continuous water flow (in that winter, several pipes had frozen and burst under homes) and even a couple of toilets stuck open - all of which were fixed immediately once identified. Without submeters, those leaks might have continued unchecked, only to be discovered when a huge utility bill arrived or when a tenant finally noticed a soggy spot in their yard. In sum, submeters turn a once unmanaged utility into a well-monitored, manageable expense.
From a financial perspective, submetering often pays for itself faster than almost any other park improvement.
The cost-benefit analysis is straightforward. Suppose a 50-lot community is paying $3,000 per month ($36,000 per year) for water and sewer under a single master meter. After installing individual meters, two things typically happen: total consumption drops (because residents start conserving once they pay their own usage), and the remaining costs are passed on to the users. If, conservatively, submetering reduces the park’s water usage by 25%, that master bill would fall to about $2,250 per month. That’s a savings of ~$750 per month, or $9,000 per year back in the owner’s pocket. Meanwhile, the owner can bill residents for the $2,250/month of water they do use, recouping that expense. In essence, a large portion of the water/sewer bill moves off the park’s ledger entirely and onto the individual households (who now have control over how much they spend by adjusting their use).
Even after accounting for the cost of billing software or a third-party billing service, the owner’s net utility expense can approach zero. The increase in NOI is immediate and significant.
The upfront cost of submetering varies depending on the technology and number of lots, but even a traditional $300-$500 per lot installation often pays for itself within 12-24 months from the water savings and cost recovery alone.
With newer, lower-cost solutions, the payback can be even quicker. In fact, one analysis by a state manufactured-housing association found the return on investment for submetering a park is generally under one year, with immediate improvements to cash flow.
We saw this in the Colorado case study: the park was able to install SimpleSUB’s clamp-on meters at roughly a quarter of the cost of conventional meters, and they saw usage drop by one-third almost right away. By the end of the first year, they had saved $35,000 in avoided water/sewer charges and recovered those costs from residents - more than covering the project cost in just 12 months. After that, the savings are pure benefit, accruing year after year.
Another major financial upside of submetering is the boost to property value.
In commercial real estate (including mobile home parks), higher NOI translates directly into higher asset value using the prevailing capitalization rate. For example, if you save $9,000 per year in utilities and your park is valued at an 8% cap rate, that savings adds roughly $112,500 to the value of the property (since 9,000/0.08 = 112,500). At a 6% cap rate, the same $9,000 savings is worth $150,000 in value.
In other words, submetering can turn a hidden, wasted expense into tangible equity. Even a small reduction in monthly costs can yield a six-figure increase in what your park is worth. This can more than justify the capital expense of installing meters, and it will pay off whenever you refinance or sell the property. It’s increasingly common for buyers (and lenders) to perform water bill audits during due diligence - a submetered park with lower water expenses and documented controls in place will be more attractive than one with a mysteriously high water bill and no plan to manage it.
Beyond the hard dollars and cents, there are “soft” benefits that improve operations and profitability indirectly. Submetering tends to reduce billing disputes and tenant complaints. Each resident receives a transparent bill showing their actual usage (usually in gallons) and the rate charged, which is typically the same rate the city charges the park.
There’s no mystery about how the bill was calculated, unlike with RUBS formulas that tenants often suspect are arbitrary or unfair. When bills are clear, you’ll field fewer angry phone calls. And if someone does complain that “my bill seems high,” you have concrete data to discuss (and you can help them investigate for a leak if the usage truly is abnormal).
This transparency can boost tenant satisfaction, because residents feel they have control - they aren’t being charged for their neighbor’s long showers or the leak down the street. In a submetered park, tenants who conserve will see lower bills than those who don’t, and that basic fairness goes a long way toward goodwill.
Submetering can also help with regulatory compliance and future-proofing your park. Around the country, there is a trend toward requiring more transparency in utility billing for multi-tenant properties. Some states have passed laws mandating that landlords charge no more for water than the utility itself would charge, and that detailed usage information be provided to residents. By implementing a proper submetering and billing system now, you position yourself to easily comply with these consumer protection rules (which are often aimed at eliminating opaque RUBS billing and preventing price gouging). In short, submetering is becoming the expected standard of practice - adopting it not only saves you money but also demonstrates that you’re running a modern, responsible operation.
Water quality and billing oversight in mobile home parks varies by state, but regulators are increasingly scrutinizing this sector. The recent AP investigation into park water systems was a wake-up call: it found that small private water systems in mobile home communities were far more likely to violate safe drinking water rules than municipal systems (in fact, parks were four times more likely to have ongoing violations) (AP spotlight coverage). In response, some states have tightened requirements. For example, Colorado passed a Mobile Home Park Water Quality law in 2023 that requires all parks to test their water regularly - even if they buy water from a city supplier. Once Colorado began testing every park, officials immediately uncovered dozens of parks (79, to be exact) where basic information like the source of the water was unknown. This kind of oversight will only increase, meaning park owners need to be on top of infrastructure maintenance and leak prevention. Submetering can indirectly help with this by identifying leaks and losses early (reducing the risk of conditions that could lead to contamination or pressure drops), but owners should also budget for system upgrades and water testing where required. Being proactive with submetering shows regulators that you’re actively managing your water system rather than neglecting it.
On the billing side, most states allow submetering of utilities as long as it’s done transparently and fairly. The exact rules differ, but generally:
Residents must receive clear, itemized bills that show the actual meter readings (start and end) and the rate being charged per unit of water (example: Arizona requirements). In other words, tenants should be billed essentially as if they had an account with the city. For example, Arizona law requires that each bill include the opening and closing meter readings and dates, the total consumption, and a calculation of charges “in accordance with the serving utility’s billing format” (see the Attorney General’s guidance).
Parks generally cannot charge residents more per gallon than the utility charges the park. Most states forbid “profit” on water; you can pass through the cost, but not pad it (beyond perhaps a small administrative fee where allowed). For instance, Arizona’s Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord-Tenant Act explicitly states the landlord “shall not charge more than the prevailing basic service single-family residential rate charged by the serving utility” for water (and similarly for sewer) (source). Many other states have analogous rules. Essentially, if the city charges $5.00 per thousand gallons, the park can’t turn around and charge tenants $6.00. The goal is to ensure tenants pay the going rate for their usage, not an inflated figure.
The submetering system must be maintained in good working order. If a resident questions the accuracy of their meter, there should be a process to test and replace it if it’s faulty. As a park owner, you’ll want to use reliable meters and keep records of installations or any testing. While modern digital meters are very accurate out of the box, it’s wise to have a plan if someone says “I think my meter is wrong.” In practice, accuracy disputes are rare when using quality equipment, but being prepared to handle them builds trust.
In some jurisdictions, you’re allowed to add a small administrative fee to each bill to cover reading and billing costs (often on the order of a few dollars or a percentage cap). In others, like California, the law permits a nominal billing fee but with strict limits. Check your state’s regulations - overcharging with “junk fees” can land you in hot water. Transparency is key: any admin fee should be clearly disclosed to residents upfront. Avoid tacking on any unexplained “service” charges that could be construed as profit. The safest route is often to simply charge exactly what the utility charges you (divided appropriately) and perhaps a flat bill processing fee if allowed.
The overarching principle in all these rules is fairness and transparency. If you implement submetering with open communication and straightforward billing, you’re likely to be in compliance with most state laws and also earn goodwill from your residents. Conversely, practices like RUBS have come under fire for their opacity. Some states (North Carolina, Texas, and others) and cities have even banned or heavily regulated RUBS for water because it was seen as arbitrary and prone to abuse. By moving to actual metered billing, you put yourself on the right side of this trend. Just be sure to educate your residents about the change: explain how the meters work, show them how their bills correspond to what the city charges, and ensure they know it’s a fair system not designed to overcharge but to promote conservation and fairness. When done correctly, submetering can actually build trust between management and tenants - it shows you’re charging everyone equitably and giving them control rather than hiding costs in the rent or in complex formulas.
(One more note: always provide notice as required by your state’s landlord-tenant laws before implementing submeter billing. Many states require 30 days’ notice or even a signed lease addendum to start billing separately for a utility that was previously included in rent. Check the legal requirements and communicate clearly to avoid any confusion.)
So you’re convinced that submetering makes sense - but how do you implement it in a way that is cost-effective and smooth, especially in an existing park? The best approach is often to start small, prove out the process, and then expand. Here’s a step-by-step roadmap:
Pick a small section of your park as a pilot project
For example, one street or 10-20 lots that are representative of your system. Before installing anything, assess the infrastructure in that section. Locate the service lines and point of connection for each home. Identify the pipe material and size (e.g., 3/4″ copper, 1/2″ PVC, etc.) because that will determine what type of meter or attachment you need. Note any existing shut-off valves or manifolds. Essentially, get a map in hand (even a sketch) of how water flows to those lots.
This is also the time to check local submetering rules and permitting requirements, if any. By doing a pilot installation, you can uncover any quirks - like unusual plumbing configurations or pressure issues - on a small scale and work out solutions before scaling up. Measure baseline water usage from the master meter during this pilot (and perhaps compare it to the sum of your new submeters) to quantify the before-and-after impact.
Choose the type of meter system that fits your park’s needs and budget.
The two main categories are inline meters and external clamp-on meters.
Inline meters (traditional) require cutting into the pipe and are often placed in a underground meter box or at the riser of each home. These can be mechanical or ultrasonic; many now come with wireless transmitters.
Clamp-on meters (newer tech) attach to the outside of the pipe and use ultrasonic sensors - these install without cutting pipe or interrupting water service. They are often battery-powered and transmit data via cellular or radio.
Each approach has pros and cons: inline meters are time-tested and often slightly lower cost per unit, but they need plumbing work by a professional; clamp-on meters might be a bit more expensive per unit but save enormously on labor and surface restoration (no trenching or plumber required) (case in point).
Also consider how data will be collected: some systems use a walk-by or drive-by radio reader (cheaper hardware, but you or a meter reader must collect data each month), while others use fixed network or cellular uploads (higher hardware cost or small monthly fees, but fully automated readings and real-time alerts).
In a mobile home park, especially one without existing infrastructure for meter reading, the cellular/cloud-based systems can be very attractive - each meter sends data to a dashboard you can view online, and you don’t have to physically read them. Companies like SimpleSUB, Bluebot, Metron, H2O Degree, etc., all have offerings in this space.
Compare features like data frequency (hourly vs daily reads), battery life, accuracy specs, and of course total cost. Choose a technology that you feel comfortable maintaining. It often pays to pilot two types in your trial area if unsure, then standardize on the one that performs best.
Plan how you will actually bill residents once the meters are in place.
You’ll need a mechanism to convert meter readings into bills each month. There are a few options:
(a) Third-party billing services - many submeter companies or utility billing firms will, for a fee, handle the readings, calculate bills, and even mail/email them to residents (and sometimes handle collections). This can be very hands-off for the park owner.
(b) Property management software - if you use software like Rent Manager, Yardi, or others, check if they have a utility billing module. Some systems allow you to import meter readings (via CSV or even automatically through integrations) and generate tenant charges or invoices.
(c) DIY spreadsheets - for a smaller park, some owners simply read the meters and use a spreadsheet to calculate charges based on the city’s rate structure, then add line items to each tenant’s rent bill. The DIY route can work, but be meticulous - any calculation errors will undermine tenant confidence. Whichever route, be sure to include all components of the water/sewer bill appropriately (e.g., if the city charges sewer as 100% of water or a base fee, allocate that correctly).
A modern solution like SimpleSUB often comes with a web portal where you can download usage reports or even push a button to generate bills for each lot, simplifying this step. Test out the billing process during your pilot (maybe parallel to your current method) to iron out any issues. And of course, notify residents in advance about how billing will work - transparency now will prevent confusion later.
Communicate clearly with your residents about the submetering initiative.
This step is critical for a smooth rollout. Start by framing it positively: submetering is being introduced to ensure fairness and give each resident control over their own utility costs.
Emphasize that it is not a “rent increase” but a reallocation of costs - what the park used to pay, the residents will now pay, but only according to what they individually use. It can help to share some examples: “If you’re conservative with water, your total costs might even go down. If you use a lot, you’ll pay your fair share, but now you have the ability to reduce your bill by fixing leaks and avoiding waste.”
Make sure to address how rent or existing fees will adjust. For instance, if water was previously included in rent, some owners will slightly lower the rent or give a credit, offsetting the new water bills (this isn’t mandated in most places, but it’s a goodwill gesture that can make the transition feel fair).
Provide educational materials on water conservation and how to read the new meters. During the pilot phase, consider sharing the initial results with everyone - e.g., “We installed meters on Maple Street and already saw a 20% drop in consumption, which is good for the community. We also found two leaks that we fixed. This is the kind of outcome we’re expecting park-wide.” When residents see that submetering works and isn’t punitive, they are more likely to support it. It’s also a good idea to notify them of any billing policy, such as due dates, how bills will be delivered (mail, email, portal), and who to contact with questions about their bill.
For a simple way to formalize this change, check out our Water Submeter Lease Addendum, a ready-to-use template you can include in your resident agreements.
After a successful pilot, plan the full installation across the park, phase by phase.
It’s often impractical or overwhelming to meter every lot in a single day (unless your park is small or you have a big install crew). Instead, schedule installation in sections - perhaps 10-20 units at a time - to minimize disruption. If using inline meters, you might need to shut water off street by street; communicate those dates/times clearly to residents.
If using clamp-on meters, installations can be very quick (5-10 minutes per home) and often with no outage, so you might do many per day with a small team. Track the serial numbers of meters and which lot they correspond to meticulously - you’ll need this for billing and future maintenance. Once all meters are in, it’s wise to run dual systems for one billing cycle: take readings and calculate what each lot would pay, but also get the master bill from the city as usual. Compare to ensure you’re accounting for 100% of the water (adjust for any common area use or known differences). This “double-check” month can catch any data issues (like a meter reporting in cubic feet while you expected gallons, etc.).
Then officially transition to resident billing. Many parks choose to overlap one month (e.g., the first month residents pay their usage, the park credits back a portion of rent to avoid double paying). Again, clarity and communication are key. After full rollout, continue to monitor the system’s readings versus the master meter. Ideally, the sum of all submeters plus any known common usage should be within a few percent of the master meter reading. A larger discrepancy could mean a new leak in the main lines, which you now know to investigate.
Even parks with complex layouts or older plumbing can implement submetering gradually. The beauty of clamp-on and other retrofit technologies is that they are scalable and even portable. If you plan to redevelop part of the park, you can remove and reuse those meters elsewhere temporarily. If you sell the park, modern meters can be a selling point (and you might even transfer the service to the new owner as part of the deal). The goal in rollout is to set yourself up for long-term success: have a plan for ongoing meter reading (automated or scheduled), maintenance (batteries typically last 5-10 years on wireless meters), and handling move-ins/move-outs (it’s wise to take a final read when a tenant moves out, just like a utility company would). With these processes in place, submetering will smoothly integrate into your park’s operations.
Across the manufactured housing industry, submetering has transformed water management from a losing battle into a success story. Park owners routinely report significant savings and fast payback once they start billing for individual usage. Here are a few real-world highlights:
In Arizona, the Manufactured Housing Communities of Arizona (MHCA) partnered with a submetering provider to help member parks install wireless water meters. The results were striking - they found it common for a community’s overall water usage to drop by about 25-30% after installing submeters (MHCA summary). The reductions came from two sources: leaks (both in homes and in underground lines) were identified and fixed, and residents who previously used water carelessly began conserving once they were responsible for their own bill (additional details). This isn’t an isolated case; similar figures have been echoed by parks in California, Texas, and beyond. The EPA’s WaterSense program notes that nationally, multifamily properties see roughly 15% (or more) lower consumption when individually metered, and other studies cite a 20-40% savings range. The consistency of these outcomes - across different regions and property types - gives confidence that submetering genuinely delivers on its promise of conservation through accountability.
A mobile home park in Colorado (the case we’ve touched on earlier) provides a dramatic example. After deploying a cellular submetering system, the park operators were astonished by the data: within days, the system flagged multiple issues that had been lurking unknown. They discovered several underground leaks in the main lines and service lines - leaks that had been bleeding water continuously but were masked by the single master meter. These were found by comparing the city meter versus the sum of all the new submeters (“water balancing”). Because the submeter system reported usage in real time, they pinpointed where the water was going. In addition, the system detected seven instances of frozen or burst pipes in vacant units during a cold snap and even identified homes with constantly running toilets. Each of these discoveries allowed management to intervene immediately - fixing pipes, replacing flapper valves - thereby preventing what would have been thousands of dollars of wasted water (and potential water damage to property) if left unaddressed. The end result was about a 33% reduction in total water consumption and tens of thousands of dollars saved in the first year. The park went from dreading the unpredictable monthly water bill to having confidence that every gallon was accounted for and under control.
On the East Coast, another park owner reported a dramatic change after giving residents direct insight into their water usage. This community utilized a smart submetering platform with a resident-facing app that allowed people to see their daily water consumption on their smartphones. By simply making consumption visible and tying it to cost, the park saw overall usage drop by roughly one-third in a matter of months. One provider notes that many property managers report around 30% reductions within the first three months once tenants start receiving real-time usage feedback and alerts. It appears that when residents get instant information - like a notification that their water spiked today - they quickly self-correct (e.g., turning off the garden hose or fixing that dripping faucet). The lesson: knowledge is power, and submetering technology can now deliver that knowledge to both owners and renters, changing behavior almost overnight.
A perhaps less quantifiable but important result seen in various submetered parks is improved trust and communication between residents and management. For instance, one park owner in the Midwest noted that after submetering, the number of complaints about water completely dropped. Before, tenants would sometimes argue that the flat fee or RUBS allocation was unfair, or they’d be upset when rent went up due to higher water costs. After submetering, those disputes disappeared - each household was now in charge of their own bill, and the park manager’s role shifted to helping residents understand their usage. In some cases, park managers proactively reach out if they see a tenant’s usage skyrocket (often indicating a leak), effectively providing a customer service benefit. One submetering company executive observed that this kind of responsiveness builds goodwill with tenants, who appreciate being informed of a leak that, when fixed, saves them money (and highlighted the main leak-detection benefit here). In affordable housing communities, in particular, submetering has been seen as a win-win: overall water waste goes down (benefiting the environment and infrastructure), owners regain control of costs, and tenants who conserve reap the savings. It aligns everyone’s incentives toward fixing problems and using resources wisely, which is a much healthier dynamic than the resentment that can brew under opaque billing systems.
The real-world takeaway is that submetering consistently delivers positive outcomes. When people see their own water use and have to pay for what they use, they almost always adjust behavior to eliminate waste. And when owners have granular data on usage, they stop paying for mystery losses. Mobile home parks from Arizona to Florida and everywhere in between are proving this out, cutting water consumption by 20-40%, slashing their utility expenses, and often catching long-standing maintenance issues in the process. In an era of rising utility costs, these are success stories worth replicating.
Rising utility rates and aging infrastructure aren’t challenges that will disappear - if anything, water costs are projected to continue climbing as cities invest in replacing old pipes and dealing with water scarcity issues. Mobile home parks that adapt now by modernizing their water management will be best positioned for long-term stability. Submetering is not just a quick fix to shift costs; it can be the foundation of a smarter, more proactive approach to park operations.
By installing submeters, owners are effectively treating water as the valuable commodity it is, rather than an open-ended liability. You gain the ability to monitor usage trends over time: is the park’s overnight baseline flow creeping up (possibly indicating a new leak)? Did water use spike during that cold week (perhaps some heat tapes failed and pipes started dripping)? With data in hand, you can move from reactive maintenance - waiting until a huge bill or a complaint forces your hand - to proactive maintenance, where you address issues early. Many advanced submetering platforms offer analytics that can flag unusual patterns automatically. For example, they can identify a “continuous flow” alert for a home (suggesting a leak) or compare sections of the park to identify if one area has abnormally high usage (suggesting maybe an underground leak in that zone). Instead of sending maintenance staff to randomly inspect, you’ll know where to look. This efficient allocation of effort can save labor costs and prevent property damage (imagine catching a major leak under a home before it causes a sinkhole or undermines a foundation).
Looking ahead, we also see regulatory and market trends favoring those who implement fair utility billing. More states are likely to enact regulations requiring landlords to bill utilities in a transparent manner - and some may even mandate submetering for new developments or park expansions. (In the apartment sector, cities like Denver and San Diego already require individual water metering in new multi-family construction.) Savvy park owners are getting ahead of the curve by instituting submeters now, rather than being forced to do so under rushed conditions later. As an example, many municipalities and public utility commissions encourage or mandate submetering to promote conservation. By metering now, you also position yourself as a forward-thinking, responsible landlord, which can be a selling point to both regulators and prospective residents.
There’s also an opportunity to integrate water management with broader technology trends. Many parks are upgrading to smart thermostats, lighting, and other IoT solutions to improve efficiency - water is the next frontier. The same cellular network that connects your submeters could potentially support smart leak shut-off valves in the future, or tie into a community dashboard that also tracks electric usage or other utilities. In short, submetering is a gateway to overall smart community management. It’s conceivable that insurance companies might one day give better rates to properties with leak detection systems (much like home insurers give discounts for alarm systems); having a submeter system with leak alerts could mitigate water damage claims, for instance. While that’s speculative, it underlines the point that data is powerful. Once you have water usage data, you can leverage it in creative ways to improve your park’s operations and even marketing (e.g., “our community is eco-friendly, having reduced water consumption by 30% through smart submetering”).
Finally, from a fairness and tenant relations standpoint, submetering aligns with what today’s consumers expect: transparency and control. Younger residents and those moving from apartments are already familiar with paying utilities based on usage. They will expect the same in a mobile home park. There is a growing awareness about conservation; many residents want to do the right thing environmentally, and submetering gives them feedback to support that. As water scarcity becomes a bigger issue in various parts of the country, being able to demonstrate that your park uses water efficiently could even become a selling point or a requirement for permits in the future.
In conclusion, if your park still relies on a single master meter and treats water as an unrecoverable expense, it’s time to explore how modern submetering systems can change the game. The technology is here - easy-install, cellular-connected meters that require minimal upfront hassle - and the benefits are proven in reduced costs, improved compliance, and enhanced resident satisfaction. Companies like SimpleSUB have shown that even the most daunting scenarios (old parks, limited budgets) can be solved with ingenuity and the right tools. By submetering, you’re not only cutting costs and boosting your bottom line today, but also future-proofing your investment against the challenges of tomorrow. In the world of mobile home park ownership, that peace of mind is worth its weight in gold (or in water, as the case may be). (For related perspectives, see MHCA’s take on the growing benefits of submetering and their note on conservation results from accountability.)
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Water Submetering Guide
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