My experience with opting out of a smart water meter in my small Ontario town

I received a letter in the mail telling me that the installation of a replacement smart water meter will be mandatory. I was concerned about this so I researched the safety of the smart meter in question and concluded that this is not a safe choice for my family. Here’s a brief record of my journey.
SYNOPSIS

The short version of this story is that although I was told the smart meters are “mandatory,” when I pushed, it turned out that dissenters are allowed to opt-out. It took hours of research, writing of emails, and phone conversations with my municipal politicians, but in the end, I am allowed to receive installation of a non-RF (non radio frequency) water meter. A safety score for my family, but not for the community at large. Most people through ignorance will allow the installation of the smart meters. Read On. This is informative. Feel free to use my wording and research in your own opt-out. Cheers, – Paul Singer.

MY EMAIL TO THE TOWN

First and last name, Mayor,
Town of xxx, Ontario

cc: Compliance Officer, Town Alderman

Dear Sir,

My wife and I are OPTING OUT of the smart water meter replacement program. We also ask that you formally allow any city taxpayers to Opt Out of this program. We thank you in advance for returning my call yesterday and for your concern and listening ear.

We do not agree to the meter replacement for following reasons:

1. Our family is sensitive to EMF radiation, but even so, you should consider this for your own family and the families of the town in general for the follow reasons…
2. RF meters have been measured as emitting high radiation that is extremely harmful to human (and animal) health1
3. These meters transmit every 14 seconds; that’s millions of times for us homeowners to endure and just one of them is for you (as you will only collect 1 reading per month). That’s completely unreasonable and purely for your own convenience with disregard to the needs or wants of the citizenry.
4. These meters are an invasion of citizens’ privacy, broadcasting personal details and detailed energy use habits

Footnote 1 International Institute of Building Biology.
See video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6My_tlrAYyY and note:
The World Health Organization classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as a Class 2B possible human carcinogen, and called for further investigation (May 31, 2011)

The Town has not done adequate research into the health, safety and privacy issues of this program. As shown in the video, these meters emit radiation many times the ideal levels of radiation safety and can cause cancer and harm our DNA. See footnotes for supporting information and video. For reference, the cited International Building Biology Institute’s standards are to have readings of at least less than 5 MicroWatts per square meter, and ideally less than 0.1 W/m2 2. In the video, a smart water meter emitted the following: 4,000+ W/m2 near the meter, 130 – 199 W/m2 at 10 ft. away, and still 22 – 32 W/m2 when 25 ft. away. 2

We feel it’s our duty to point out these concerns not only for ourselves but for everyone in our city. What will such harm-causing government actions do to us all, especially to the more sensitive: our babies, the elderly, & even local wildlife?

We will of course continue to pay our water bills as we have done faithfully. We are good citizens, and we pay our municipal taxes.

So, we elect to continue using the current meter in our home. We are willing to allow periodic access to the current meter to get a reading or we can photograph the reading ourselves and email it to you at an agreed upon schedule.

We would potentially even consider allowing the smart meter if the town can reduce the transmissions to something reasonable and acceptable, for example for a 2 or 3 hour window one day per month, just enough to read the meter, and further, with no constant neighbourhood meter-to-meter “chatter.”

Again, I personally thank you for your prompt response to my inquiry yesterday and your clear indication that you’re interested in the ramifications of this issue.

Sincerely,

Paul Singer
Ontario Town, ON
me@domain.com

Footnote 2 Source: http://www.baubiologie.de/downloads/building-biology-guidelines-english.pdf

OUTCOME

After 3 or 4 emails between myself, the mayor, the compliance officer, the public works director and others, I was told in writing by the compliance officer that I am allowed to opt out of the smart meter in favour of an non-RF model.

They tell me there will be a $10 per month charge for manually reading the meters. I suppose I could fight that too, but I’ll leave that up to my neighbour two doors down, who is also opting out but feels strongly about having NO up charge.

Now I’d like to share with you a briefer sample template letter…

SAMPLE: A BRIEF VERSION OF AN OPT-OUT EMAIL / LETTER TO MUNICIPALITIES (feel free to use)

To be emailed to:

To: Director of Public Works
cc: Compliance manager, alderman
cc: Mayor

Dear Name (Director of Public Works),

My family is OPTING OUT of the Neptune smart water meter replacement program.

We choose instead to allow installation of the (model name) water meter which is a direct read model and does not use Radio Frequency signals.

Please let us know if there will be an extra charge for this alternate model.

We believe the smart meters may have harmful EMF effects on our health. We understand that they conform to Health Canada’s standards, but we are aware of other research that is more current and that the smart water meters in question do emit radiation that are well above safe levels according to the more current research.

We’re also concerned about the privacy issues with the smart meters as they will monitor very detailed information about us and our power usage.

Can you let us know how to proceed in order to get the non-RF model instead of the Smart Meter?

Sincerely,

Name and contact info

Supporting links:
www.baubiologie.de/downloads/english/richtwerte_2008_englisch.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6My_tlrAYyY
(The particular Smart Water Meter measures at the “Severe Concern” area according to Table 2 in the first link, as shown in the video in the second link)

NOTE: This information is provided “AS IS.” I’m not able to respond to questions about solely about this topic. – However,

Let me know if I can help you with any EMF related matters. We provide EMF testing in homes and offices. We use the best meters on the market. And an important aspect of our service is to give you on-site education on EMF and a full report on the latest research and how to protect your family overall.

by Paul Singer

☞ CONTACT US HERE FOR EMF CONSULTATIONS