If the fire hydrant is on the same side of the street as your home, you can apply for a permit to use the hydrant. You must first obtain a request form from the Division of Fire. The Fire Chief will assist you with the process of obtaining a permit from Cleveland Water.
Below is information from Cleveland Water outlining the process to use their water utility and infrastructure.
Temporary / Hydrant Permit
In some instances, you may need a temporary source of water for a variety of uses. A non-permanent service connection requires a temporary/hydrant permit.
There are two types of permits available: metered and estimated. Metered permits are only issued for long-term usage (6 months or longer). All other permits are estimated by Cleveland Water. Please note: Customers in suburbs must also supply a copy of the approval letter from the fire chief of that suburb to use the hydrants.
Potential acceptable uses for a temporary/hydrant permit include:
- Construction
- Demolition/dust control
- Landscaping and community gardens
- Filling containers
- Cleaning
- Flushing
- Mixing cement
- Filling swimming pools or ponds
Filling Swimming Pool Permit
Cleveland Water allows customers to fill a swimming pool by using a fire hydrant with the appropriate permit. The following procedure must be followed in order to obtain such a permit:
- Obtain a letter of permission from your local fire department. If the permit is being requested in Cleveland, no fire department letter is required.
- Bring the fire department letter to our Permits and Sales Department at 1201 Lakeside Avenue to apply for the permit. We will sign off and make a copy for our file. You are responsible for making sure your local fire department has a copy of the signed letter and permit from Cleveland Water.
- We'll also need to know the number of gallons needed or the dimensions of the pool (i.e. length, width, and depth) so that we can determine the amount of water needed.
- When applying you will be given a price to pay for the permit before it is issued. You may also be responsible for obtaining your own fire hydrant hose, hydrant wrench, and independent gate valve to operate the hydrant.
There are no refunds on hydrant permits. This is stated on the permit form.
Note: Some pool contractors will tell their customers they can contact Cleveland Water with their meter reading before they fill their pool from their homes so that they can receive a discount on the sewer bill. This is not true. There is no break on the sewer bill if the pool is filled from their home unless their respective sewer district allows the installation of a sewer exempt meter (deduct meter). In this case, no reads need to be called in ahead of time since all water will register on the sewer exempt meter.
For more information about temporary/hydrant permits, please call 216-664-2444 or email us at Permits and Sales. To obtain a permit, please visit us at: Permits and Sales
1201 Lakeside Avenue, 2nd Floor
Cleveland, OH 44114