To read a typical water meter, simply read across the numbers in the box. Some meters have only six digits instead of seven, but they are read exactly the same way. The 0 on the far right is a fixed number and never changes. Each number on the round dial represents one gallon, so from 0 to 1 is one gallon, 1 to 2 is one gallon, etc. One complete turn of the red needle is 10 gallons.