Residences and businesses served by the water districts in Evergreen and Kittredge will be getting new water meters that are more efficient and will provide both the metro district and property owners better information about water usage.
The new cellular meters will be installed at no additional cost to property owners, according to Evergreen Metropolitan District officials. EMD has purchased the new meters from Metron-Farnier and hired the firm to do the installations.
About 130 meters will be installed each month, and the district expects to replace all 4,500 meters in the Evergreen, West Jefferson and Kittredge districts by mid-2023. Some meters that were failing already have been replaced, according to Garry Jeffrey, EMD’s Water Department manager, but the work will start in earnest by March.
Residents will get phone calls from the company, Metron-Farnier, to schedule an appointment time, Jeffrey said, and workers will need to go into the home and turn the water off for about 20 minutes.
EMD will put notices on Facebook, on doors and on bills, so water users know about the change, General Manager Dave Lighthart said.
Data from the new meters will be transmitted virtually, rather than EMD personnel driving along roads to read meters via radio signal.
One of the biggest features, according to Kevin Rosemeyer, EMD’s Water Department supervisor, is that with the online portal, customers can log on and see their water usage, so they can learn about leaks sooner and see if they are going over water-usage limits during droughts.
“That is one of the biggest gains we’re getting out of this program. The customer has the ability to monitor their own water usage,” Jeffrey said.