
Check here for answers to some of the most common questions we receive from customers.
© 2018 City of Cleveland, Division of Water
Check here for answers to some of the most common questions we receive from customers.
The Customer Service lobby and call center is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Please note - Please remember to bring your entire bill when paying in person. Customers can call (216) 664-3130 Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to speak with a customer service representative. Emergency teams are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling (216) 664-3060.
All Cleveland Water employees wear a photo identification badge with a Cleveland Water logo. For your safety, always ask to see this identification before allowing the person into your home. Should someone posing as an employee refuse to show identification, please call (216) 664-2444 ext.75333 immediately to report the impostor.
Contact Customer Service at (216) 664-3130 after the title has been transferred. You will need to provide Customer Service with the title transfer date and the new owner's name.
No. The new owner's responsibility begins the day the title is transferred.
Call Distribution and Maintenance at (216) 664-3060.
Cleveland Water's Homestead Exemption program is for senior citizens and permanently disabled customers who meet income guidelines. Contact Customer Services at (216) 664-3130 for more information, or click here.
Come to our Customer Service center at 1201 Lakeside Avenue and pay a deposit. You will need a copy of your lease agreement and photo identification. Your water and sewer bill will carry the property owner's name, but will come to your address.
Call Customer Service at (216) 664-3130 to request a duplicate bill or click here to ask a question.
Customers who have not used water must still pay a minimum charge if water service is available to the property.
Call Customer Service at (216) 664-3130 to correct a misspelled name or an incorrect address on your water bill or click here.
Call the Customer Service at (216) 664-3130. A representative will help you make payment arrangements to avoid any interruption in service.
Yes. Pool water eventually drains through the sewers and must be treated before returning to Lake Erie.
No, they should be paid on separate checks accompanied by respective payment stubs sent to two separate remittances as mentioned on the bill.
Call Permits and Sales at (216) 664-2444, ext. 75203 to send inspectors to check plumbing after repairs have been made.
If you live in a home with an unheated basement or in a slab home with a crawl space underneath, extremely cold weather may cause your water lines to freeze or your internal plumbing lines to burst.
You can take several steps to minimize the risk:
The amount of money you spend taking these precaution will be relatively small compared to the cost of repairing damaged lines.
The hardness of our water is 7 grains/gallon or 120 mg/L as calcium carbonate.
During regular business hours (8:00 am-4:00 pm), call our Engineering Hydraulics Service Office at (216) 664-3160. After hours, please call our 24-hour trouble center at (216) 664-3060. These locations handle questions and complaints regarding the odor, taste, and color of water. The cloudiness is caused by tiny air bubbles in the water similar to what you see in soft drinks. After a while, the bubbles rise to the top and are gone. This occurs more often in the winter when the water is cold. Sometimes, this can be caused by a plumbing problem. Our Engineering Hydraulics Service group can instruct you how to eliminate the problem.
If you experience discolored water, contact Cleveland Water at (216) 664-3160 during normal business hours or (216) 664-3060 outside of normal business hours. Provide us with as much information as possible, including time and date the problem started, location, and your best description of the problem.
The Cleveland Water system has been in operation for more than 150 years, and some of our water mains are made of cast iron. Whenever the water velocity or flow direction changes from normal, iron sediment from these old mains is picked up by the water and shows up as discoloration. Incidents that can cause this include:
In these situations, the water is safe to drink. However, use care as the iron can stain laundry and plumbing fixtures.
No. If you choose to install a filter, there are some issues to keep in mind. A water filter is like any other piece of equipment – it must be maintained. If a filter is not properly maintained, it can break down and degrade your water quality. You should also be aware that if you put a filter in place, it will accumulate iron particles. There are many iron mains in our water system and the water does pick up iron sediment from these mains. Most of the time, the particles cannot be seen because they are very small and are not harmful. If you put in a filter, the iron will accumulate on your filter and will become visible.
No. These mollusks multiply very quickly, but pose no threat at all to public health. Click here for more information.
No. The water produced by Cleveland Water is well within the very strict government standards for water purity and absence of lead. Any problems with lead in drinking water stem primarily from lead service lines that connect homes to water mains, and from lead pipes and solder used in home plumbing systems installed before Congress banned such use in 1986. We add orthophosphate to the drinking water to inhibit lead corrosion. Cleveland Water routinely eliminates lead service connections during construction and maintenance programs. For additional information, call our Lead Inquiry Line (216) 664-2882, or click here for more information.
No. You should be concerned if chlorine and fluoride are not in your water. These two chemicals have made a powerful contribution to public health. Chlorine kills bacteria and fluoride contributes to dental health. The use of chlorine has virtually eliminated the outbreak of such deadly diseases as typhoid fever in the United States, while the use of fluoride has reduced the incidence of dental cavities among children age 5-17 by 50%. Virtually every public and private health agency, including the U.S. Public Health Service and World Health Organization, endorses the use of fluoride in water. Additionally, fluoridation by public water systems in Ohio is required by state law.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency maintains a list of laboratories certified to test drinking water on their website at http://epa.ohio.gov/ddagw/labcert.aspx.
Lead does not come from the treatment plant or water mains in the Cleveland Water System. Instead, if there is lead in drinking water, it comes from various places between the water main and your faucet, including lead service connections (cityside and private property) and copper plumbing with high lead solder and brass fittings and fixtures within your home.
Like many older water systems across the country, the Cleveland Water System does contain some lead cityside connections. Lead was commonly used in the Cleveland area prior to the 1960s to establish water service connections for new homes.
Yes. Call Customer Service at (216) 664-3130 with a final reading or click here.
All customers within the Cleveland Water service territory have their water use measured by a meter.
Cleveland Water meters measure water in thousand cubic feet (one cubic foot equals approximately 7.5 gallons), or MCF. Charges for the amount of water consumed are based on the number of MCF units used during a billing period. One MCF unit equals 1,000 cubic feet or approximately 7,480.05 gallons.
The majority of the City's meters are the straight-reading meter, which resembles an odometer in a car. In the meter shown, the dials read 81,710.03, which is the total number of cubic feet of water recorded since the meter was installed. Cleveland Water bills in units of 1,000 cubic feet (or 1 MCF). The meter would read 81,710.03 MCF.
Help Us Read Your Meter
Your water meter is an accurate and dependable water-measuring device used to register all the water consumed in your home or building. The water meter is usually located in the basement of your residence. The Clear Reads AMR Program is in the process of upgrading all meters and remote registers with a new Endpoint. The Endpoint will securely transmit your water usage back to Cleveland Water to ensure timely and accurate billing.
From time to time, Cleveland Water may need access to your meter for maintenance. To ensure access, it is important that you maintain the area around your metering device. Some customers have a meter installed in a vault, typically in the front of the property, which is also the utility easement. When landscaping or fencing your yard, you need to maintain enough distance from the meter to allow us to read, service, and repair your meter. It is the property owner's responsibility to ensure the meter is visible and accessible at all times.
Please keep these things in mind when landscaping:
If landscaping does cause access difficulty, we ask that you clear it. However, if we need immediate access we may clear the vegetation without prior notice. Please note, Cleveland Water has the right to remove obstructions placed in a utility easement area and is not responsible for any damage caused by removing the obstruction.
If you have any questions about maintaining your meter or need help in locating your water meter, please call Customer Service at (216) 664-3130.
Call the emergency phone line at (216) 664-3060 to report emergencies such as broken mains, missing manhole covers, and poor water pressure.
Contact our Public Education and Outreach office at 216-664-3173.