I can remember watching the water meter guy go from house to house when I was a kid.  We had a huge water meter on the north side of our house, and he would come on foot, write down the reading, and go on to the next house.

Since I played outside a lot as a kid, I saw him walking from house to house quite often.  The first time I really took notice, I was worried about who he was.  I ran to my mom, and she explained it to me.  "He has to take readings from the meters to see how much water we’ve used," she said.

I don’t know when I stopped seeing the water meter guy, but these days it’s all done electronically.  The meters give off a reading that the water meter guy’s handheld machines pick up when they pull their truck up in front of each house.  No more walking from house to house — just driving and letting the machines do the footwork, so to speak.  It’s probably a good thing, because at the house I live in now, the water meter is inside the basement!

There have been huge advancements in water meters and other types of liquid flow calibrator since I was a kid, it seems.  For instance, a company called Sierra Instruments makes a type of ultrasonic water flowmeter that can be installed without even turning off the flow of liquid within the pipe.  I don’t even pretend to know how that works — but thankfully, I don’t have to.  I only have to sit back and enjoy the convenience that these advancements produce in my life!

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