The meter register pictured to the right is typical of most residential meters and is usually located near the street. The register on the meter serving your property may look somewhat different, but they all work on the same principle.

The meter register reads like a car odometer, from left to right. The number keeps a running total of all the water that passed through the meter, since it was installed.

The red triangle is the flow indicator. It rotates whenever water passes through the meter. The flow indicator will rotate faster or slower depending on the volume of water passing through the meter. Meaning that you may need to watch the flow indicator carefully if trying to determine a slow leak. The large sweep hand measures gallons of water as it passed through the meter. A full revolution indicates that ten gallons has passes through the meter. However, depending on the size of the meter installed at your property, one full revolution may equate to more gallons.

To calculate the amount of water used within a certain time period, you would subtract the meter reading taken at the beginning of that time period from the meter reading taken at the end of that time period. This will give you the total amount of gallons used. 

Please see the video below for an example of how to read your meter.