Editor: Shannon Cottongame
September 6, 2023
The City of Whitney is preparing to install new water meters throughout the city in an effort to replace outdated meters and allow citizens to reap the benefits of new technology.
Many of the city’s current meters are past their expected lifespan, and old meters are known to have water loss issues and create situations where customers are not billed for all of the water they are using. The city must operate within a certain margin of water loss under Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Texas Water Development Board rules.
Last month, the council voted to move forward with an agreement with Fortiline Waterworks for the installation of new water meters. In March, the council voted to enter into a finance contract with Government Capital to fund the meter project, which came in at just under $600,000. By accurately reading how much water is flowing through a meter and preventing water loss, the increased water revenue is expected to pay for the meter project.
“The old meters have mechanical parts in them, so when the water goes through them, it actually spins a part of that meter and registers the water flow,” said City of Whitney Director of Operations Billy Pribble. “The new meters have no moving parts. They’re ultrasonic water meters, so they will be able to measure water flow with nothing mechanical to ever wear out.”
The new Diehl Hydrus ultrasonic water meters utilize cellular technology and will come with a SETflow customer portal that provides benefits to water customers, including the ability to set water usage alerts.
These include a flow alert to help identify leaks, vacation alerts that will alert the customer if flow is detected while they are away from home, cold weather alerts if the temperature drops below a selectable threshold, and water usage alerts that tell customers if consumption has exceeded a configurable percentage of their average water flow.
“They will measure extremely low flow rates,” Pribble said. “If your sink is dripping, they will know. The other meters wouldn’t detect that low.”
He added, “We will be able to tell a customer if they have a leak on their side almost immediately. When we pair our water meter with the advanced meter infrastructure (from Smart Earth Technologies), they will give us a reading every 24 hours. Our old system, we read once a month.”
The customer portal also has analytics that allow customers to view their water usage by hour, day, week or month and select custom date ranges for detailed usage analysis. A variety of tools are available for comparing usage and trends.
The city has been testing out the meters since last year in a pilot program that involved 22 meters initially and expanded to include 102 meters as broken meters were replaced or a meter was needed for new construction. “It is very user friendly,” Pribble said. “During the last freeze, we had five customers we were able to inform of a water leak.”
The council met in a special session Tuesday night, August 29, after a concern was raised to some members of the council about the new meters possibly containing lead. It was not publicly disclosed who raised the concern, but Council Member Jason Ince said that he used a store-bought lead test on the outside of the meter and believed that it was positive. Pribble did a test at the meeting in front of the council that was negative, and he said he had also conducted tests all over the inside of the meter that were negative. He pointed out the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists home lead tests as highly inaccurate with a large number of false positives, and they are not designed to be used on metal.
Pribble provided documentation to the council showing that the meters are certified to be lead free, and all of the required testing has already been done. He said that he had multiple conversations with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in which he was assured that the safety data indicated the meters were lead free. They have also been used in a number of other cities, most notably the San Antonio Water System. In addition, water quality tests at homes in Whitney that have tested out the new meters have not shown an issue with lead.
Prior to viewing all of this documentation, the council was discussing the possibility of the city paying for its own lead test, but Pribble said that he had not been successful in finding someone to conduct the test as of the meeting date, and it would likely be costly if the city did choose to proceed with its own testing. He pointed out that the stamp on the meters indicates that the testing has already been done.
After reviewing the safety data and weighing the TCEQ’s take on the issue, the council opted to work to inform the public about the safety of the meters instead of pursuing further testing.
“I think what’s scared some people is that this is new technology for this area, and people are scared of what they don’t know. What we want to do is help people understand why this is a benefit to them,” Pribble said. “The new meter is lead-free copper alloy. It has met all of the National Science Foundation standards.” He also provided this documentation to The Lakelander, along with documentation showing that they meet American Water Works Association standards.
“These meters are designed in Germany,” Pribble said. “This is the very first ultrasonic water meter that was ever made in the world, and this company designed them. It’s assembled here in the United States.”
Pribble said that if anyone is concerned about lead or any other aspect of the meters, the material safety data sheet (MSDS) is available online, which shows that the meters are lead free.
Prior to selecting the new meter, Pribble spoke to the San Antonio Water System about its experience after it spent over $200 million on 600,000 meters for its customers. During a Zoom meeting with three of that system’s executives, they explained the benefits that they have seen and the meters’ impressive performance during rigorous testing.
“These meters may be different than what you’re used to seeing, however, different isn’t always bad,” Pribble said. “In this new technological age that we live in, we have to embrace technology, and we’re providing our citizens with one of the most innovative solutions for water metering available.”
The city’s contractor tentatively have plans to start the system-wide change out in mid to late September. Fortiline hopes to have the whole city changed over in a month to a month and a half.
In most cases, residents will not need to be home during the installation of the new meters, but if they are, the installers will attempt to notify them in advance of a brief service interruption that should last no more than five to 15 minutes.
Anyone with further questions about the switch can contact the city at 254-694-2261.
The Lakelander 