By Gloria Roemer
Trinity Bay Conservation District will be asking its Board of Directors to approve funding for 1,200 new electric read water meters at its regular board meeting on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. The cost is estimated to be $264,000, which is $220/meter.
Mike Will, water/sewer operations coordinator told The Seabreeze Beacon that 700 electric read meters have already been installed in mostly new home developments. That would bring the total to 1,900 electric read meters in use. “We (TBCD) really want all meters to be the electric read meters,” said Will. “These electric meter readers can read meters that are covered with dirt and debris. They have antennas on the lids of the meter which gives the signal an extra boost,” added Will. “Their accuracy is very high. Whenever a homeowner has a question about an unusually high water bill, with the data log these meters provide, we can determine by the minute how much water went through that meter when, and at what time.” Will also stated that these state of the art electric read meters can help identifying where water loss may be occurring.
“The electric read meters are expensive,” said Will. “But they are more efficient and accurate. We (TBCD) hope to have all our meters to be electric read meters within the next several years.”