California Senate Bill 7 (SB7) requires all new apartments and rental housing built after January 1, 2018 to install water submetering for individual units. By requiring rental housing to meter water on an individual unit basis, tenants have accurate information on how much water they use. By charging tenants for their actual water usage, there is a higher likelihood of responsible water usage and conservation.
Prior to 2018, it was common for apartment buildings to have only a single water meter and would charge tenants based on a fixed allocation regardless of their usage.
In many counties throughout California and the country, sewer service is billed based on water usage. By submetering tenants based on water usage, sewer service can be tied to individual water usage. In jurisdictions where costs of sewer service exceed those of water service, tenants can achieve additional savings on their sewer fee allocation by lowering water usage.