By Ken Francis, Staff Writer

 

The Clearwater City Council Monday voted to move ahead with replacing the city’s water meters.

 

    The decision came after a long discussion with Administrator Kevin Kress about the timing, cost and benefit.

 

    The city currently has approximately 900 meters, including sprinkler meters that utilize the Neptune 900 radio system. Some have an integrated radio, while others  have their radios separate.

 

    Kress said both types are failing, and the city is losing revenue from water consumption that isn’t being billed.

 

    “We’re pumping more water than we’re billing for,” he told members of the council. “We had done leak tests and found a few but it wasn’t significant enough to cover the difference. In my opinion it’s the mechanical meter system. It has less of an accuracy rating over time.”

 

    Mayor Pete Edmonson asked if the was an estimate of how much water was unaccounted for.

 

    “I want to say we lost several million gallons in the last audit,” said Kress. 

 

    The sewer treatment plant pumps about 67 million gallons a year and the city gets billed for it. Edmonson estimated the cost to the city at about $147,000 per one million gallons for unbilled water.

 

    The cost for the new meter system would be approximately $300,000, which means the city could recoup its investment in about two years. The city could bond for the project or use money in the water and sewer funds. Residents wouldn’t be billed for a new meter.

 

    The new system by Mueller is solid state, with no moving parts, while the existing mechanical system with radio is prone to failing. And the hand-held reader utilized by city public works staff to read the meters is also failing, said Kress. 

 

    “The actual hand-held has failed twice. We had the company come out with a separate hand-held to read all of our meters,” he said.

 

    It already takes about two full days for staff to drive around and read meters. Combine that with the fact that the meters aren’t accurate and it’s a big cost to the city.

 

    The new Mueller system is not only solid-state, but can be combined with a data collector mounted on the water tower that could read all the new meters and send the data directly to city hall. There would be no need for anyone to drive around and read meters.

 

    Kress said the city could begin “swapping out” the old meters and have two systems operating simultaneously until all the meters were replaced. He said it could take three to four months to complete the project.

 

    He said the only issue was contracting with Mueller without having a second bid.

 

    The council directed Kress to solicit a second bid, and bring in some figures on how much revenue the city was actually losing from the existing meter system. That will be available at the July 9 meeting.