When Your Weakness Becomes Your Strength

Significant water loss leads to new technologies putting the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians on the cutting edge of service.

The EPA report from 2014 didn’t have good news for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI): Their water system was experiencing an overall 48 percent unaccounted-for water loss.

EBCI Water and Sewer Manager Ethan Arch knew dated water meters were to blame – as many of the meters yielded inaccurate readings or didn’t work at all. It was time to replace the nearly 3,000 positive-displacement-type meters that had been in use for more than a decade throughout the town of Cherokee, North Carolina, and surrounding areas.