Miami Student

Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Community

Water keys, which are sold at businesses such as Ace Hardware, may be outlawed due to a proposed law by Ohio legislators.

Ohio lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban the sale of "water keys," keys which can be used to turn on buildings' water even if a delinquent bill has not been paid.

Water keys are easily accessible at any hardware store. At Oxford's branch of Ace Hardware, they are sold for $17 and are simply long metal rods that come in two-foot and four-foot lengths with a handle on one end and a fitting on the other.

Turning water back on for a building where it was once turned off requires no more effort than reaching into the water box buried beneath the ground near the building and turning the water key until water is running again.

Dave Bryant, Miami University junior and employee of Ace Hardware, said that in his more than two years working at the hardware store, he has never sold a single water key.

"This is the first time I've been asked about them," Bryant said.

However, according to Dave Weihrauch, chairman of the Ohio Section of the American Water Works Association Water Utility Council who also serves as the Oxford Water Plant Manager, despite the fact that hardware stores may not sell many water keys, he said they can be easily made from scrap parts.

"Water keys are a common tool that thousands of people own across the state although we have not had any trouble recently in Oxford with the use of water keys," Weihrauch said.

According to Weihrauch, the bill's intent to keep water keys strictly in the hands of plumbers will be a hard task.

Weihrauch said it will be difficult because water keys can be homemade and because, if the bill is passed, deciding which plumbing licenses can obtain the water keys could be problematic. Weihrauch said plumbers can be licensed by the state individually or an entire company can be licensed together.

"Would hardware stores let plumbers who work for certified companies but have no license themselves buy a water key?" Weihrauch asked. "Those are the kinds of things that must be worked out."

According to Weihrauch, it is against the law to use a water key to open the master water valve without the permission of the utility company. Weihrauch said that he knows there have been several cases that have gone to trial about the use of water keys.

"The answer to what could happen to a person caught using a water key is as wide as it is long," Weihrauch said. "Sometimes nothing more than a warning, other times a penalty is in order."

Weihrauch also said that it is important for community members to exercise discretion and good judgment on issues such as this, not only because it is against the law, but also because trained professionals should be the only ones to do any kind of plumbing work.

"We try to be understanding on things like unpaid bills," Weihrauch said. "We realize people can't pay on time every time, as well as the fact that several thousand young adults are away from home for the first time and don't always remember when to pay their bills. We try to be helpful and understanding and if there are any problems, people should call technicians that are available 24/7 instead of trying to fix it themselves."

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