Most indoor water meters used by Jamestown homes and businesses have been in use for 50 to 70 years, resulting in loss of income for the city.
On Thursday, December 16, after a meeting of the Public Works Committee, City Administrator Sarah Hellekson stated that money must be spent to replace water meters so that the city can save money by obtaining accurate water meter readings.
City engineer Travis Dillman said that there is no accurate figure showing how much the city can save by installing new water meters.
Water director Joseph Rowell said that some water meters may have a service life of up to 90 years.He said there are about 5,300 water accounts in Jamestown, and about 60% of them are between 50 and 70 years old.
He said that the current water meter is a mechanical water meter, which is considered a positive displacement, which means that the mechanical moving parts will wear out over time and the efficiency will be reduced.
“They didn’t take into account all the water used,” he said.”They usually read very slowly, which is good for customers but bad for utility companies.”
The new water meter will be installed indoors.Rowell said there is a shut-off valve and a meter close to where the service line enters the room.
“All they have to do is turn off the water, pull out the existing water meter, and install the new meter,” he said.”The new meters we plan are basically the same size, so this is just a transaction. We should be able to enter most residences by turning off the meters without involving very few pipelines.”
Dillman said at a public works committee meeting on Thursday, December 16 that the city has very rare instances of charging excessive fees for water accounts.
Dillman stated on Tuesday, December 21 that replacing the water meter will ensure that everyone pays for the correct amount of water used.
The City Council has not yet made a formal decision on the replacement of the water meter and which type of water meter will be used to replace the existing water meter.
He said that the planned project to install the new water meter is likely to be carried out during the construction season of 2023, because municipal staff need to figure out how to repay the loan through the national revolving fund program.He also said that because COVID has also affected the industry and there is some time lag, there are some delays in obtaining electricity meters.
He said that the staff is checking certain radio reading water meters in North Dakota so that the supplier can resolve any issues that may occur.
He said that city staff should continue to promote the installation of new water meters and ensure that there is a plan for how to fund them.
Dillman said that every residential, commercial or commercial district with water service in Jamestown will be equipped with a new water meter.
Rowell said that some facilities such as apartment buildings may be two to four meters long.By using a larger single meter, only one meter can be installed, and the cost and the inaccuracy of reading the water consumption will be reduced.
Rowell said that depending on the city council’s choice, the water meter may be of the radio reading type, and all water meter readings will be sent directly to the central data point.
“Then hope that the system we get can transfer this right to the city hall so you don’t need to go to every different house,” he said.”… In some systems, you can still send a person to a central local area, and send a staff member to obtain these readings through a handheld device…. Or we can choose to do it through a remote site, and from the city hall automatic completion.”
City Councillor Dan Buchanan said at the Public Works Committee meeting that the city has long needed new water meters.
He said: “I hope there are some solutions to find money so that we don’t have to wait until 2023.”
Rowell said that if he can accurately measure the amount of water, the new radio-reading water meter will allow him to better track water loss.He also said that municipal employees currently have to manually read each current water meter.
He said: “Everything is written by hand and settled in this way, and transferred to the computer system by our clerical experts.” “Once we enter this new system, it will be downloaded automatically. It will go directly to the city hall. And every account assigned to that meter.”
“We can have a customer portal where all bills can be sent out, or if the usage there is unstable, we can also set up alerts to notify customers in this way,” he said.
He said that the antenna can be installed on the water tower.From there, the water meter reading will go directly into the tower and then be transmitted back to the city hall.
Post time: Dec-25-2021
