The clock continues to tick even when no water is being used.

On the morning of September 19th, after receiving complaints from residents in Hung Binh ward, Vinh city, we met directly with the households to verify and investigate the situation.

At house number 26, Vinh Yen Street, Hung Binh Ward, Vinh City, Mr. ThaiVan Vinh (the homeowner) explained that for several months, his family's water meter has been spinning even when no water is being discharged.

"About two months ago, around June 2022, while sitting in front of my house near the water meter, I accidentally flipped open the protective cover."water meter"Then we noticed the water meter was spinning steadily, even though no one in my house had turned on the tap," said Mr. Thai.Van Vinh said.

Residents of Vinh City report that their water meters are turning on their own even when they are not using water. Photo: HT

Mr. ThaiVan Vinh added that, seeing such a puzzling phenomenon, he was curious and checked the water meters of neighboring households, only to find the same thing happening. He informed the households about this situation, and they checked and discovered another problem: when a neighboring household uses water, the meter of the adjacent household continues to spin even if they don't flush.

To verify the residents' complaints, on the morning of September 19th, we joined the households on Vinh Yen Street to conduct an "experiment" by releasing water and observing the operation of the water meters.

At the water meter of house number 26, after turning off all the water taps of that family, we, along with the owner of house number 28, opened the water valve of house number 28, and the water meters of both houses started spinning. However, the water meter of house number 28 (which was discharging water) spun at a faster speed, while the meter of the adjacent house number 26 (which was not discharging water) continued to spin at a slower speed.

Continuing our "experiment" with the water meter of household number 51, opposite household number 26, we observed similar results. Therefore, the residents of Hung Binh ward's complaint that the water meter continues to run even when the tap is not turned on is true.

According to Vinh's statement, around June 2022, when he discovered this situation, ThaiVan Vinh called the water bill collector but waited a long time without any resolution, so he went to the Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to report the issue. The company then sent a technician to inspect the situation, confirming the problem and issuing a report stating it was a "technical malfunction." To fix the problem, the water plant staff installed an additional one-way shut-off valve on Mr. Thai's family's water pipe.Van Vinh: “After installing the shut-off valve, our family's water bill decreased compared to the previous month. However, the meter's 'automatic rotation' hasn't stopped yet, although the speed has decreased compared to before,” said Mr. Thai.Presented by Van Vinh.

A sample water meter for households on Vinh Yen Street, Hung Binh Ward. Photo: HT

Several households along Vinh Yen road also expressed agreement and confirmed that even without flushing, the water meter continued to spin, as Mr. Thai described.Van Vinh confirmed that the incident was true. "After hearing Vinh talk about it, we checked our water meters and only then did we find out. Normally, we just pay the water bill when we receive the notification, and we never check the meter, so we were unaware of the meter malfunctioning and spinning on its own," said a homeowner on Vinh Yen Street.