In our city unless your the fire department, a use permit that looks like an oversized gasket, city supplied water meter and a backflow preventer are mandatory if your any type of contractor hooking up to a fire hydrant.
Yup, that is the way it works. You need a water meter to hook up to a hydrant and they charge you for what you use. My wife got in trouble for buying her own meter and hooking it up that way. The water company wants you to use their meter and they are not very fast at getting you one. They would not even start an account using that meter number.
