❗ The Problem
Thousands of tenants across Pennsylvania — including those in Pittsburgh and surrounding suburbs — live in apartment complexes where no individual water meters are installed. Instead, landlords often rely on RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System), which allocates water charges based on arbitrary formulas (e.g., square footage or number of occupants), rather than actual consumption.

This practice is:

Unfair to tenants
Harmful to the environment
Economically inefficient

💬 Why It Matters
❌ No control, no transparency. Tenants pay for water they didn’t use — even when they're away or trying to conserve.
💸 No incentive to save. Without meters, there’s no financial benefit for reducing water usage.
🌍 Wasteful by design. RUBS encourages overconsumption because there's no accountability.
🏢 Outdated system. Landlords are disincentivized from modernizing buildings or making water usage transparent.

✅ What We’re Demanding
We, the undersigned, urge state and local lawmakers to pass legislation that:

Requires individual water meters in every apartment unit, regardless of building age;
Sets firm deadlines for retrofitting existing buildings with water meters;
Bans the use of RUBS where individual metering is physically possible;
Ensures transparency, giving tenants access to real-time and historical consumption data.

✍️ Why You Should Sign
Water is a precious resource. Tenants should only pay for what they use — nothing more, nothing less. We believe fairness, sustainability, and accountability should be the norm in utility billing.

If you agree, sign this petition and share it with your community. Together, we can push for policy that supports both renters and the environment.