TEMPERATURES ARE DROPPING. PLEASE TAKE PRECAUTIONS AND PREVENTATIVE MEASURES TO PROTECT YOUR PIPES FROM FREEZING.

Things to do now:

• Familiarize yourself with areas of your home most susceptible to freezing, such as basements, crawl spaces, unheated rooms and outside walls.

• Eliminate sources of cold air near water lines by repairing broken windows, insulating walls, closing off crawl spaces and eliminating drafts near doors.

• Locate your main water shut-off valve. If a pipe freezes or bursts, shut the water off immediately.

• Protect your pipes and water meter. Wrap exposed pipes with insulation or use electrical heat tracing wire; newspaper or fabric might also work. For outside meters, keep the lid to the meter pit closed tightly and let any snow that falls cover it. Snow acts as insulation, so don't disturb it.

• Also, clear snow near fire hydrants near your property.

What to do when temperatures are consistently at or below freezing:

• If you have pipes that are vulnerable to freezing, allow a small trickle of water to run overnight to keep pipes from freezing. The cost of the extra water is low compared to the cost to repair a broken pipe.

• Open cabinet doors to expose pipes to warmer room temperatures to help keep them from freezing.

When you are away:

• Have a friend, relative or neighbor regularly check your property to ensure that the heat is working and the pipes have not frozen.

• Also, a freeze alarm can be purchased for less than $100 and will call a user-selected phone number if the inside temperature drops below 45 degrees.