The City of Cadillac’s Utilities Department is issuing a run water order for the entire City. The Utilities Department monitors the frost levels in various manholes throughout the City and at this time has determined that due to the depth of frost a run water order is necessary and is effective immediately. This order is to prevent the freezing of water and sewer lines, both of which may cost the property owner several hundreds if not potentially thousands of dollars to thaw and restore should the lines freeze.
The Utilities Department is requesting water to be run at a rate of approximately 1-gallon per 15-minutes. For reference, a solid stream of water from your faucet about the diameter of a pencil lead or 1/10 of an inch wide will generate 1-gallon of water usage per 15-minutes.
The City will base billing on the water usage average from the months of November, December, and January, and there will not be any requirement to contact the City to request this averaging. All water and sewer usage above this average will be adjusted in the next billing cycle. For example, if a person runs their water continuously at a rate of 1-gallon for every 15 minutes, the utility bill, which is a combination of water and sewer charges, will increase a total of approximately $14.12, and the City will credit the bill in the next billing cycle up to a maximum of $18.00, should there be any inadvertent over usage from not running the water exactly at the rate of 1-gallon per 15-minutes.
Please remember that running the water at a rate of approximately 1-gallon per 15-minutes must be done continuously, even though the outside temperature may rise above freezing since the frost that has already been driven into the ground will remain there until sometime later this spring. The City will issue a “Stop Run Water Order” accordingly once it has been determined that the frost level no longer poses a threat.
Letters will be sent out to all City accounts advising of this run water order that is effective today. Please feel free to contact our office at 231-775-0181 ext.123 should have any additional questions.