By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — The city will soon begin the process of replacing old water meters with new state of the art meters it was announced during the Grambling City Council April meeting held Thursday night.
Michael Self, Meter Regional Sales Manager for Coburn Supply Co. that will supply the new meters, spoke to the Council during the meeting to explain what it will all mean to the city.
The new meters will consist of two components — a meter and a radio-device to send information to the drive-by meter readers.
“This system is going to supply long-term benefits for the city of Grambling in excess of 20 years,” Self said. “There are no moving parts on this meter, it’s solid state. So there is no wear and tear on the meter, which is what you’ve dealt with in the past.
“We’ve partnered with the city to install these meters that use a AMR drive-by system (to read water usage). It’s a 20-year system that comes with the best warranty in the business, which is 15 year full replacement and five year pro-rate.”
Self said that if a meter goes bad, it will be replaced with a new one and that the new meter would have a restarted 20-year warranty.
The drive-by system of meter reading will cut down significantly on time to do the job, Self said.
“This is going to allow the city to go out and read their meters in a matter of hours versus days,” Self said. “I believe we’re starting on a small scale as far as not implementing the whole city at the start. We’ll do it by routes, or zones, that will be determined by the city and the install group that’s going to be performing this, which is Benchmark.
“I do recommend that if you have meters that are inoperable you go ahead and replace those, but generally you want to start in one area using routes. When the workers go out and read meters, they’ll do that by routes.”
Self said the meters also offer leak detection, tampering alerts, empty pipe detection and reverse flow detection.
“As workers are out reading meters and there’s a potential leak on a homeowner’s meter, it’s going to alert the meter reader that there may be an issue. The can stop the vehicle they’re driving to read the meters and get out and check the meters to see what may be causing the issue or they can come back in and issue a work order to have someone go back out and check it.
“It will be a time-saver when it comes to the maintenance of the metering system. I’m not saying there won’t be any maintenance, because like with anything there’s going to have maintenance that goes along with it. But it is going to make the city proactive with its water distribution service and its water metering system.”
While Benchmark will handle the physical installation of the new meters, Aquametrics, a partner company of Coburn Supply, will handle the software installation for those meters.
“They will come in and train and work with your office staff on the billing side,” Self said. “They will walk them through that entire process. They’ll give your staff handouts that show step-by-step implementation of transferring your system to the new software system.
“And they’ll also go out with whoever is reading the meters and will do this multiple times, not just the first month. They’ll come out the second and third month just to make sure you really have a grasp on the system. And they’ll always be available to come out when they are needed.”
Self said the city will be recommended to keep around 10% worth of the meters in its total system in stock for emergency repairs.
“That way if you do have an issue, you can pull a meter, activate a new meter and put it in place while the original meter is sent off to the company,” Self said. “And when that (original) meter comes back, it doesn’t have to go back to the same location.
“But the (original) meter will have to be sent back (to Coburns) just to verify it’s a warranty issue.
And I don’t think you’re going to be experiencing much of that.”
Self touted the accuracy the new meters will be capable of.
“What you have now reads by the quarter gallon,” Self said. “These pick up down to 3/100s of a gallon. It will pick up virtually every drop that goes through a faucet, through a commode. It’s going to be a revenue generator for sure.”
Grambling Public Works Director Eric Caldwell said the first installations of new meters will begin in about three weeks.
“We’re doing more than just water meters — we’re upgrading water lines and we’re installing shutoff valves,” Caldwell said. “As you all know, when we have a major water leak, a lot of times we have to shut the (city’s water supply) completely down.
“So we’re moving into the 21st Century as we install water meters so that when it’s needed, we’ll only have to shut down the water (supply) to a small area instead of affecting the whole community,” Caldwell said. “That’s a plus for the city right there.”
Caldwell also said that around April 21, the Mabry Company will be replacing the water culvert on Stadium Drive as well as Park Avenue.
“So be prepared for a road closure for a couple of days on Stadium Drive after the 21st,” Caldwell said.
Councilwoman Devaria Ponton also reminded those attending Thursday’s meeting that the Grambling Clean-Up Day for Keep Louisiana Beautiful Love the Boot Week, the state’s largest statewide litter removal and beautification effort, will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
She said the clean-up teams will meet at City Hall located at 127 King Street before spreading out around the city and that she will have supplies, including rain ponchos, on hand for those participating.
Those wanting to participate in Grambling’s clean up effort can sign up online at bit.ly/gramblinglove25.
