Copyright © 2026 Everyday Backups · everydaybackups.com · Secure cloud backup for small business & personal files
Small rural water systems, water associations, and water and sewer authorities and utility districts across the rural South often run the whole office on one or two Windows computers: a billing clerk's computer where customer accounts and meter reads are entered, a manager's or superintendent's computer, and sometimes a separate bookkeeper's machine for payroll and the books. A board that meets monthly oversees the system, and field operators come and go collecting readings and handling repairs, often handing paperwork or a tablet back to whoever runs the office that day. Many small systems run their whole customer billing cycle from one or two office PCs, so if the billing file or the meter read history is lost in the middle of a cycle, the office may not be able to bill accurately for water it has already delivered, answer a customer's high bill question, or show what a customer's deposit and payment history actually is.
Two different things, and you pick either one. The 2-minute self-check is a short set of questions you answer yourself, covering how your billing records, meter read history, and board documents are currently protected. The free 15-minute Backup Risk Check is a review our team runs with you, by phone or screen share, going through where your office computers actually keep their records, and what would happen to this cycle's billing file if one of those machines stopped working.
Everyday Backups provides automatic, encrypted, off-site backup for Windows computers, with version history and restore support. It runs on Windows, iPhone, iPad, and Android, and paid plans start from $5.99/mo.
Everyday Backups backs up office files on Windows computers, plus phones and tablets, the billing records, meter read histories, board documents, and accounting files that run a water system's business side. It is not a SCADA, operational technology, control system, telemetry, or treatment plant product, and this page gives no advice about plant controls, operational technology, or remote access to any of it. Anything on the plant side belongs with your system's own operators, engineers, and the agencies that advise them. What follows is about the office, not the plant.
A small water or sewer system holds more office records than its staff size would suggest, because the clerk's desk, the manager's desk, and sometimes a bookkeeper's desk are often the only place any of it exists. The record set below is what many small systems across the rural South want to be able to put a hand on for any customer, any main, or any board meeting, on short notice.
A gap in any one of these categories tends to surface at the worst possible time, not before. A customer calls about a high bill, a board member asks what the rate ordinance actually says, or a crew needs the valve location file during a main break, and the record that should answer the question is nowhere to be found because the computer holding it failed with no copy anywhere else. At an office with one or two staff, that is rarely a paperwork inconvenience, it is the only copy that existed.
CISA promotes the 3-2-1 rule as a simple standard for small-business backup, and it maps directly onto how a small water system actually holds its records, the active billing and meter read files for the current cycle, and the growing archive of past payments, past ordinances, and past work orders behind them.
Your working copy is whatever sits on the billing clerk's computer or the manager's computer today: this month's meter reads, current account balances, and this cycle's billing run, plus the accumulated payment history and service order history for every customer the system has ever served. A second copy on a local external drive or a second machine protects against one device failing. A third copy, off-site in encrypted cloud storage, protects the record set that cannot be rebuilt from memory once a payment history or a service order is gone, from a single event at the office taking out both of the first two copies at once.
A water system's billing and payment archive grows with every cycle and rarely gets deleted outright, so relying on two drives of the same type in the same office just means both copies age and can fail together. CISA guidance calls for two genuinely different storage types, for example a local drive for quick access to this cycle's files and a separate cloud destination for the accumulating payment archive, so one kind of hardware failure cannot take out both at once.
Off-site matters more for a customer's payment history or a deposit record than for almost any other record category a small system holds, because rebuilding a customer's account history from memory, after the fact, is not something any staff member can do. Cloud backup satisfies the off-site requirement when the data goes to a separate data center rather than an external drive kept in the same office, and it is the copy that survives a fire, theft, or flooding taking out the working files and the local backup together.
CISA recommends keeping at least one backup copy that is not continuously connected to the network. For a water system this matters most for the payment and service order archive, since years of past records sitting on a mapped network drive at the office are exposed to the same ransomware sweep as this cycle's active files. A cloud-based backup that is not directly mounted on your local network is far less likely to be reached and encrypted alongside the records it is meant to protect.
The items below are specific to how a small system's records are actually scattered across a billing clerk's computer, a manager's or superintendent's computer, and whatever utility billing or meter reading system a given system uses. They are the starting point before anything else in this framework matters, not a complete checklist on their own.
For a broader self-assessment of your current backup posture, see the small-business backup checklist.
It helps to picture the actual day, rather than the abstract loss. A customer calls the office about a bill that looks too high, asking what their meter has actually read the last few months and what they have already paid. The office is still there, the counter is still set up exactly where it was left. What is gone, in many small systems, is the file that says what that meter read last cycle, what the customer paid last time, and what their deposit was. The billing cycle does not pause for a computer problem, and new reads and payments keep arriving even while last cycle's file is missing.
It is worth being precise about what a working backup does and does not do here. A recoverable copy of a billing ledger or a meter read history means the record still exists and can be pulled back up on a new machine. It does not decide how a disputed bill should be resolved or what a customer is owed; that remains your system's own judgment, guided by your own board and your own policies. Many small systems find that having the file at all, in the middle of a cycle that will not wait, is the harder problem, and that is the problem a tested backup addresses.
Two kinds of software generate most of the records behind a small water system: whatever utility billing software and meter reading system a system uses to bill customers and record reads, and whatever accounting software or QuickBooks handles payroll and the books. Knowing exactly what each one's backup covers, and where the gap is, matters because board minutes, system maps, and grant files often live partly outside either system.
Your utility billing software and meter reading system typically hold the account, payment, and read data tied to your own setup and whatever they were built to track. They often do not hold system maps, valve location files, grant and loan paperwork, or board minutes kept outside the program. Being able to open the software is not a backup of any of it, it is access to a working tool, which is a different thing from a copy you control. If your billing software is hosted or cloud based, the account and payment data may survive a failed office computer; what often does not survive is everything saved around it on that machine, such as scanned deeds, system maps, and grant files, and you still depend on continued access to that system to see your own records.
Cloud sync is a related but separate trap. A synced folder that mirrors the office computer looks protected, but sync only mirrors what is currently there; delete a file or have it encrypted by ransomware, and the synced copy follows along. See cloud sync vs. backup for what each actually protects against.
A small water system's accounting file tends to carry payroll, vendor payments, grant and loan reporting, and a full history of billing activity in a single file that grows steadily and rarely gets deleted. Intuit's own documentation recommends a backup copy stored in a location separate from the original, and specifically notes that backing up to the same machine only is not adequate protection.
A common mistake at small systems is a built-in backup feature writing to a different folder on the same drive as the original, which does not protect against a drive failure. For a closer look at QuickBooks-specific backup steps, see QuickBooks backup for small businesses.
A joint fact sheet from EPA, CISA, and the FBI, Top Cyber Actions for Securing Water Systems, lists backing up systems among its top recommended actions. Everyday Backups does not claim to satisfy that fact sheet or any other federal guidance; it simply backs up the office files behind your billing, meter reading, and accounting work, the part of the system this page is built around.
CISA and the FTC both publish guidance noting that small organizations, including small utility offices, are targets of ransomware. A water system's office fits that pattern with one added detail: what is at risk is not just one month's billing, it can be the office's only surviving record of every current customer's account and every past service order, often in the middle of a cycle that does not pause for a computer problem. CISA's #StopRansomware guidance points to offline and encrypted backup copies as the main technical way to recover once ransomware has already encrypted production files. A backup drive that stays mapped to the network, or a sync folder that mirrors changes as they happen, can be swept up in the same attack as everything else. A cloud backup that is not sitting on your local network as a mounted drive is much less likely to be touched by whatever just encrypted the office's computer. For a fuller walkthrough, see ransomware restore readiness, and for a plain way to confirm your own setup actually works, see how to test your backup restore.
Backup is a recovery tool, not a security, privacy, or compliance control, and it is worth saying plainly: encrypting and backing up customer records, billing ledgers, and meter read histories protects your system's ability to get them back if they are lost, corrupted, or ransomed, but it does not make those records secure, it does not make them private, and it does not make them compliant with any rule. It does not satisfy any Safe Drinking Water Act obligation, any EPA or state primacy agency requirement, any sanitary survey or lab reporting requirement, any America's Water Infrastructure Act risk assessment or emergency response plan requirement, any records retention rule, or any cybersecurity requirement that may apply to your system, and it gives no legal or regulatory advice of any kind. A tested backup shortens a bad week; it does not replace your system's own cybersecurity practices or its own diligence on recordkeeping obligations, and it is not offered here as a substitute for either.
A few other pages on this site cover offices that sit near a small water system but are not the same thing, and it is worth being explicit about the boundary so you land on the right one.
If your organization spans more than one of these descriptions, such as a town that bills its own water customers out of city hall, more than one page may apply, but the customer billing ledgers, meter read histories, and service order files described above are what this page is built around.
Our city government office page is built around a general municipal office: the clerk's correspondence, council minutes, ordinances, permits, and licensing, the broad record set a town hall or city hall keeps regardless of whether it also bills for water. This page is built around a dedicated water system, association, authority, or utility district whose office work centers on an accurate, ongoing ratepayer billing cycle: a billing ledger, a meter read history, deposit records, and the connection and disconnection orders that come with it. Where a town runs its own water billing out of city hall, both pages apply, and it is worth confirming which computers and which folders each backup actually reaches.
Our housing authority page is built around tenant files, voucher and housing assistance documentation, and inspection records tied to a residential housing program. This page is built around a different kind of customer relationship entirely: a water system's ratepayers, who are billed for water delivered rather than housed in a unit, with their own account ledgers, meter read histories, deposit records, and service orders. A housing authority's tenant file and a water system's customer account serve different purposes and come from different programs, which is why each has its own page here.
No. Sync keeps a folder looking identical across every device connected to it, so a deletion, an overwrite, or a ransomware encryption event on one device shows up in the synced copy just as fast, often within seconds. Backup keeps point-in-time versions you can reach back to from before the damage happened. A billing ledger or a meter read history that was intact yesterday and corrupted or overwritten today cannot be recovered from a synced copy that overwrote right along with it. See our comparison of cloud sync vs. backup for the full explanation.
No. Everyday Backups backs up office files on Windows computers, plus phones and tablets, not SCADA, operational technology, control systems, telemetry, or treatment plant equipment. It gives no advice about plant controls, operational technology, or remote access to any of it. Anything on the plant side is your system's own responsibility, guided by your own operators, engineers, and the agencies that advise them.
No, and we make no such claim. Everyday Backups is a general office file backup service. It does not satisfy, certify, or support any Safe Drinking Water Act obligation, any EPA or state primacy agency requirement, any sanitary survey or lab reporting requirement, any America's Water Infrastructure Act risk assessment or emergency response plan requirement, any records retention rule, or any cybersecurity requirement that may apply to your system. What your system is required to keep, how long a given record must be kept, and how you would demonstrate any of that to a state agency remain entirely your own obligation, guided by your own advisors, not by a backup vendor.
No. Everyday Backups gives no legal, regulatory, or compliance advice of any kind. What your system must keep, for how long, and how it should respond to a state primacy agency, an auditor, or a sanitary survey are matters for your own board, your own attorney, and your own advisors, guided by whatever rules apply in your state. Everyday Backups only helps keep a recoverable copy of the office records your system already produces, so those records still exist and can be pulled back up if the computer holding them fails.
No. Everyday Backups makes no claim that a backed up customer account, billing ledger, or payment record is secure, private, or compliant with any rule. Backup is a recovery tool: it helps you get a copy of your own records back if a computer fails, is stolen, or is hit by ransomware. It does not evaluate, certify, or guarantee the privacy or security of what is inside those records, and whether your system's handling of customer information satisfies any applicable rule is a question for your own advisors.
This is a real gap for many small systems, because the whole customer billing cycle often runs from one or two office computers. If the billing file or the meter read history is lost partway through a cycle, your office may not be able to bill accurately for water it has already delivered, answer a customer's high bill question, or show what a customer's deposit and payment history actually is. A recoverable copy of the billing ledger and the meter read history means those records still exist and can be pulled back up on a new machine. What a backup does not do is decide how a disputed bill should be resolved or what a customer is owed; that remains your system's own judgment, guided by your own board and your own policies.
Treat it as something to look at that day, not months later. Common causes each point to a different fix: the billing clerk's or manager's computer was powered down overnight and never connected during the scheduled backup window, a file was open in another program, a drive filled up, or a login or network issue blocked the upload. A failure that sits unresolved while meter reads and payments are still being entered for the current cycle means there is no real coverage during exactly the stretch when the most new records are being created. Alerting on failure, rather than discovering it later, is the baseline fix.
It installs on Windows machines, whether that is the billing clerk's computer running your utility billing software, a crew or office computer running your meter reading system, a manager's or superintendent's computer, or a bookkeeper's machine handling payroll and the books, watches for failed or overdue backup jobs and alerts when one happens, keeps version history so a file can be pulled from an earlier point in time, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and sends the copy to off-site cloud storage rather than local media that could be lost in the same event as the originals. It is meant to be set up once and then run quietly in the background through every billing cycle and every ordinary week after it. Each Windows machine that touches a customer account, a meter read, or the system's books needs its own coverage.
Everyday Backups is office-file backup only, for Windows computers, phones, and tablets; it is not a SCADA, operational technology, control-system, or treatment-plant product, and this page gives no advice about plant controls, operational technology, or remote access to any of it, all of that remains your system's own responsibility, guided by your own operators, engineers, and the agencies that advise them. Everyday Backups does not satisfy, and makes no claim to satisfy, any Safe Drinking Water Act obligation, any EPA or state primacy agency requirement, any sanitary survey or lab reporting requirement, any America's Water Infrastructure Act risk assessment or emergency response plan requirement, any records retention rule, or any cybersecurity requirement that may apply to your system; all of that remains explicitly your system's own obligation, guided by your own advisors and whatever rules apply in your state. It gives no legal or regulatory advice of any kind. It makes no claim that a backed up customer, billing, or payment record is secure, private, or compliant with any rule. A backup is a data recovery tool, not a data security, privacy, or compliance product, and backing up a record does not make that record secure, private, or compliant with any rule. No compatibility with any specific utility billing software, meter reading system, mapping or GIS software, or accounting system is guaranteed or implied; verify backup scope and file coverage with your own review. References to EPA, CISA, FBI, FTC, Microsoft, and Intuit documentation are for informational context only and do not constitute endorsement by those organizations. Consult qualified legal, financial, engineering, and operational advisors for requirements specific to your system.
Everyday Backups runs on Windows, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Set it once; it backs up automatically, encrypted, off-site. Paid plans from $5.99/mo.
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Copyright © 2026 Everyday Backups · everydaybackups.com · Secure cloud backup for small business & personal files