How To Market Costly Water Meter Projects To Locals

City leaders in Harrison, AK, are planning to shell out $3 million for an extensive overhaul of their water meter system.

The officials are selling it to locals with the promise that better measuring tools will cut down on water loss and leaks.

"The City estimates it is losing anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 a year due to inaccuracies in the current meters, some of which are 30 years old," Ozarks First reported.

Harrison Mayor Dan Sherrell emphasized the benefit for customers.

"[He said] the new meters could help save the residents money, due to the fact they can radio signals back in real time, compared to being manually read every 30 days," the report said.

"If [a customer has] a leak, we will know within a few minutes or a few days," Sherrell said, per the report.

Harrison Public Works Director Wade Phillips explained the rationale behind the decision.

"We did a study recently and we had some that were reading at 60 percent," he said, per the report. "We've even had some that were down in the single digits, but we also had some in the 90's which is where we want to be."

"We're buying the water and turning around and selling it," he continued. "So for every gallon of water we buy and don't sell, we're losing money."

The city already replaced 2,000 of its meters with digital systems a few years ago, and the benefits compelled policymakers to push for replacing the rest.

"Now the City wants to replace the remaining 5,000 meters with a newer, but similar digital model, that is expected to be 98 percent accurate," the report said.

Harrison is not the only city with these challenges. In 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the nation a D+ for water infrastructure in a 2013 report card.

The problem plagues cities the world over. "The World Bank, for one, suggests the annual global value of non-revenue water — water produced and lost by utilities — is close to $14 billion," Forbes reported.

For more on water meters, check out Water Online's AMR, AMI and Metering Solution Center.