In Wichita, "buried" lawn sprinklers are required to be on a separate supply, with a separate meter, and an anti-siphon valve at the meter.

I decided I didn't need an automatic sprinkler, so I shut it off.

Six months later, when I got a bill that included a charge for water "metered" for the sprinkler system, I informed them I didn't use it and there should be no water to be metered. It was shut off at the meter inlet.

They had to send a guy out to verify that it was turned off, and when he actually read the meter, it was determined that there had been no water used. (They'd "estimated" something to avoid actually reading it?)

I was also informed that if I wanted it shut off, I had to "disconnect" the lawn system and remove the "antisiphon" fitting, which I then did.

About two years later I get a bill for the "mandatory bi-annual antisiphon inspection." (It had been at least six years since the last "inspection," that's supposed to be done every other year.) When I called to tell them that there wasn't an antisiphon to inspect, they had to send another guy out to make sure.

While I was waiting for the guy to show up I popped the lid off the meter sump, and discovered that there wasn't even a meter there any more. They'd removed the meter nearly two years before they tried to bill me for inspecting the antisiphon valve that wasn't there, and of course the anti-siphon that wasn't there wasn't connected to the meter that wasn't there.

We settled it without going to court.

John