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1. What is the WaterSmart Customer Portal? Why should I use it?

Soquel Creek Water District has partnered with WaterSmart Software to offer our customers a modern digital portal where you can access detailed information about your household or business water use. WaterSmart’s online customer portal allows you to: 

• Track your water use 
• Pay your bill
• Set alerts for possible leaks or unusual usage
• Provide you with personalized tips on saving water
• Set communications preferences

2. How do I register or login to the WaterSmart Customer Portal?

To register, simply go to this link (https://soquelcreekwd.watersmart.com/index.php/welcome) and enter in your Account Number (exactly as it is shown on your bill or WaterSmart welcome letter) and your zip code. 

Once you are registered, you can create a portal username and password based on an email of your choice.

3. How should I use the Customer Portal?

The Customer Portal is a resource to help you better understand and manage your water use. It provides you with a social comparison, helps you track your use, and offers personalized recommendations for the most effective ways to save water. For instance, if your outdoor use is high, you will see recommendations related to irrigation practices.

4. How do I customize my Customer Portal profile?

Soquel Creek Water District customers can customize their Customer Portal profile though the Household Profile. You can find the Household Profile in the drop-down menu under your name in the right-hand corner. The Household Profile has specific questions about your household. Completing the Household Profile will improve the relevancy and accuracy of the social comparisons and recommendations you see in the Portal. Profile questions include: 

• How many people live there?
• How many toilets are in the household?
• How big is your yard?

5. With whom am I being compared?

You are being compared to households in the District with similar attributes, such as number of occupants and irrigable area. A five-person family living in a house with a large landscaped yard will be compared to other households with the same number of people and similar yard size, since they will likely use a similar amount of water.

6. Why can't I see my hourly usage?

There may be a few reasons: 

• If you are viewing on a mobile device you will be unable to see hourly data.
• Occasionally there will be a disruption in your water data. These gaps happen when your water usage information transmitted from your i-meter is not received by the District’s fixed network infrastructure to be sent to WaterSmart. This may be due to hilly terrain, a temporary issue with the District’s i-meter system or due to periodic obstructions, like a car parked over the meter. If the reception has been spotty for your service, you may be unable to see your hourly or daily usage. Once reception quality improves, access to hourly and daily usage will be restored. (Please note that this does not affect your water usage for billing. The meter will continue to record accurate water reads during this data interruption and will transmit that data when it is next able to.)

7. Do I really use this much water?

A number of activities can lead to an increase or decrease in water usage over a period of time. Increases can possibly stem from guests in town, filling up a hot tub or pool, leaks inside or outside the home, or turning on the irrigation system during the dry season. Decreases in water usage could potentially result from installing high-efficiency appliances, reducing irrigation schedules, fixing leaks, or members of your household moving out. For your own information, check out the list below of various activities that consume approximately 100 gallons of water. 

• 78 high-efficiency toilet flushes
• 10 five-minute showers 
• 5 loads of laundry with high-efficiency machine 
• 8 minutes running one sprinkler zone 
• 10 hours of drip irrigation (0.5 gph, 20 emitters) 
• 2 days of evaporation from an uncovered pool

8. Can I get real time usage and leak information?

WaterSmart does not provide real time data. Usage information on WaterSmart is approximately 12 hours old due to the data transfer schedule between our meter vendor and WaterSmart software. To get real time information, learn how to read your water meter.