FAQs • Lowndes County, GA • CivicEngage

How do I know if I have a faulty water meter?: We encourage our customers to understand how their water meter works. Customers can perform a simple meter calibration test to see if the meter is recording the correct amount of water usage. Fill a bucket with 10 gallons of water and take another reading on your water meter and the difference from the first reading and the reading after you fill the bucket should be 10 gallons. Faulty meters will give zero readings. If the meter is not registering a reading for 3 months the Utility Department will request to have the faulty water meter changed out.

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Utilities

1. Where are you located?: Administration Building
327 N. Ashley St.
1st Floor
Valdosta, GA 31601
Ph: 229-671-2500

4. Is a deposit required?: A refundable $50 deposit is applied to your first months billing. The deposit is refunded after a year in service with good payment history.

5. How do I get my Deposit back?: After you have been in service for a year, with a good payment history, you can request to have your deposit refunded to you, or your deposit will stay on file until you close your account at which time the deposit is applied to your outstanding account balance and the difference refunded or you will have a balance due on your closing account statement.

6. Will my water be turned on the same day?: If you sign up for service before 3 p.m., water will be turned on that same day.

7. What are your water / sewer rates?: Water / sewer billing is based on the amount of water consumption that you use. Please see Utility Rates.

8. What if we need to contact Utilities after regular business hours?: Contact the after hour emergency number at 229-671-2500.

9. My sewer is backing up, what do I do?: Contact the Lowndes County Utility Office at 229-671-2500 and report the problem.

You may also want to contact a plumber. Lowndes County Utility Department will check the county's main sewer lines to make sure there is proper flow in our lines and no blockage. If our lines are clear this indicates that the customer service lines may have a blockage and the customer would be responsible for contacting a plumber to unplug their service lines.

10. I have no water...: Contact the Lowndes County Utility Office at 229-671-2500 and report the problem. Sometimes it is our customers that alert us to problems in the field that we may not know about.

11. I don't think you are reading my meter...: We encourage our customers to always check the readings on their monthly billing statements with the readings that are on the actual water meter. Keeping in mind that a reading may have been taken on one day and it takes a couple of days to get the billing statements to our customers so there may be additional usage within those days, but the readings should be pretty close to what is reported on your billing.

12. I don't ever see the meter reader looking at my meter and there is dirt and water over the meter dial, there is no way they can get readings from this meter...: Lowndes County has radio read water meters, which means that our meter reader has a computerized system in their vehicle and as they drive down a street they are able to electronically (radio waves) pick up meter readings without actually looking at the individual meters.

13. My neighbor’s water bill is less than mi ne and we use the same amount of water...: Unless you have a faulty water meter, if you use the same consumption that your neighbor does, your water bills will be the same.

14. How do I know if I have a faulty water meter?: We encourage our customers to understand how their water meter works. Customers can perform a simple meter calibration test to see if the meter is recording the correct amount of water usage. Fill a bucket with 10 gallons of water and take another reading on your water meter and the difference from the first reading and the reading after you fill the bucket should be 10 gallons. Faulty meters will give zero readings. If the meter is not registering a reading for 3 months the Utility Department will request to have the faulty water meter changed out.

15. Why does my water taste or smell funny?: A noticeable taste can come from the chlorine that is added to the water to kill germs. A rotten-egg odor is caused by a smelly chemical in the water called hydrogen sulfide, sulfur water, this is a natural product in our water supply that comes from the Floridian Aquifer. Metallic tastes can come from copper that has dissolved from copper pipe and from rusted iron pipes that are used for plumbing inside the customer's home.