If you own or manage a multi-unit residential property, water is one of the more significant costs on your monthly operating statement. In most cases, the property owner covers water and sewage for the whole building, and tenants have little incentive to conserve because they are not paying for it directly.
The water flows through every unit, through laundry facilities, through common-area bathrooms, through any amenity spaces the building offers. Multiply that by the number of units and the number of residents, and monthly consumption climbs quickly. A mid-size apartment building can easily spend several thousand dollars per month on water and sewage alone.
Most property owners treat this as an unavoidable reality of the asset class. But the actual bill often reflects more than just resident usage.
What Your Water Meter Is Actually Recording
A problem shared by most commercial multi-family properties nationwide is that their water meters are not measuring just water. They’re recording a mixture of water and air, and every cubic inch of that air is billed at the same rate as water. This isn’t a billing mistake, it’s simply how unregulated water pressure behaves inside a building’s plumbing. And it is costing American and property managers thousands of dollars every single year.
The municipal water supply delivers water to your building under unregulated pressure. That pressure creates air bubbles that travel through your pipes right alongside the water. Your meter counts all of it as water because it cannot distinguish between the two. The result is a bill that is higher than your actual usage.
What the SMART VALVE™ Does
The Smart Valve™ is a patented, precision-engineered flow management device installed on the customer’s side (your side) of the water meter. It eliminates the air measurement problem at the source, regulates pressure surges, and ensures your meter records only what you genuinely consume. The outcome is a measurable, guaranteed reduction in your water bill, typically between 15% and 35%.
01 — Eliminates Excess Air Volume
The Smart Valve™ maintains constant back pressure, preventing excess air from entering your water system. Air that would otherwise be measured and charged as water is stopped before it ever reaches the meter.
02 — Regulates Water Pressure
Its proprietary variable spring-loaded technology smooths out the peaks and valleys in water pressure that naturally occur in commercial plumbing systems. The result is a consistent, even flow, the foundation of accurate metering.
03 — Precise Pressure Calibration
Every Smart Valve™ is calibrated to the optimal pressure level for the specific building it serves. This is made possible by patented, adjustable valve technology, not a one-size-fits-all setting, but a precision adjustment tailored to your system.
04 — Secondary Backflow Prevention
The Smart Valve™ functions as a secondary backflow preventer, providing an added layer of protection for the municipal water supply. This compliance and infrastructure benefit comes standard with every installation.
05 — Universal Meter Compatibility
The Smart Valve™ is compatible with over 99% of all water meters currently in use across the United States, whether your building runs an older mechanical meter or a modern digital unit.
With the Smart Valve™ installed on the customer’s side of the meter, city pressure is maintained upstream past the meter and into the municipal main. Air bubble volume is suppressed before reaching the meter. Only actual water consumption is recorded. Your bill finally reflects reality.
American Water Savings conducts a detailed analysis of your historical water usage to determine whether your property qualifies for at least 15% savings. Monthly water and sewage costs generally need to be $4,000 or more for the property to be a strong candidate. All savings are validated using actual utility billing data.
