Agenda - Public Works Committee - 12/18/2007 - No Meeting

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CASE #~ WATER METER REPLACEMENT PROGRAM By: John Nelson, Utilities Supervisor Background: The City of Ramsey installed water meters in homes and businesses starting in early 1985. Most of these meters are still in service today. Like any other mechanical device water meters have many moving parts, in time there is weal:" and corrosion resulting in inaccurate readings or no consumption being recorded and this results in revenue loss. The American Water Works Association reports the industry standard is to replace meters every 10-15 years depending on water quality. Our oldest meters have been in service for almost 23 years. We have 680 that fall into the 15 year category and 1574 meters that fall into the 10 year category; The 2006 report shows 25.2 million gallons of water was unaccounted for; at the cUrrent rate of$1.81 per 1000 gallons this equals $45,612 of possible water revenue; however, no utility can account for all water usage due to water main leaks, water theft, flushing and other activities. Currently the City of Ramsey has 3,702 water meters in service. All meters "Neptune" brand and range in size from 5/8" to 3". Currently we use two different systems to read our meters: 1. ARB 5 system that utilizes a wire from the meter to a box on the outside of the structure. The box has a series of wires and pins that define the account number and the meter reading. This technology is outdated. 2. ProRead system which is very similar. It also requires a wire from the meter to the outside. Both systems are prone to disruption from siding work or other projects within the house that disturb the wiring system. Another issue with these systems is that a meter reader must have direct contact with each reading device. Snow, rain, fences, dogs, etc. makes reading meters a very time consuming operation. Over the past two years we have responded to 324 homes where our meter reader could not get a reading due to one or more of the conditions listed. Current water meter technology includes radio read and telephone read systems. The radio read system makes it possible to get meter readings driving down the street with a specially equipped vehicle. This technology would make it possible to get fast accurate meter readings from as far as 1000 feet from the structure. The telephone read technology that makes it possible to get meter readings through the phone lines. This requires a land line to the home; many people only have cell phones; therefore, this system will not work for these homes. The radio read system will alert the reader if the meter has been tampered with or if there was a flow from the house to our system. It will also set a flag if there is a small flow like a dripping faucet or valve. Our current system does not have these capabilities. 7