Bay Area Construction Crews Using Fire Hydrants Not Stealing Water, Officials Say
FREMONT (KPIX 5) – Construction sites use water to control dust, but then Terry Devore of Newark saw where the water was coming from.
"I saw a contractor actually having a water hose connected to their tank filling up from a Fire Hydrant," Devore told KPIX 5.
Devore took a photo of the contractor, thinking he caught a thief. "My first reaction was- who's paying for that?" he said.
KPIX 5 went to find out and learned contractors at new construction sites across the Bay Area are doing the same thing, but there's nothing illegal about it. The crews use meters provided by the water district.
"A portable meter and this is what a portable meter consists of," said Robert Ells of the Alameda County Water District.
The portable meters let the district know exactly how much water contractors take.
"They do not get a discount," said Alameda County Water District spokesperson Sharene Gonzeles. "They are billed at the same rate as a non-single family residential customer and are subject to the drought surcharge because we are in a drought."
From time to time you will see a tanker truck or street sweeper connect directly to a hydrant that does not have one of these meters, but even then it doesn't necessarily mean they're stealing the water.
"Some of the street sweepers and commercial ones, they'll be mounted sometimes on the vehicle so you won't actually see, you might see a hose just going to the hydrant," Ells said.
The water district sends out inspectors to make sure contractors are using those meters. So far they haven't caught any contractors stealing water during the drought.