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View Winners → Arcadia Council Approves $500K for Updating Water Meters, Streamlines Permits for Residential Solar Panels
Arcadia Weekly Aug 25, 2015
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By Joe Taglieri
The Arcadia City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 18 to spend $500,000 as part of an ongoing program to install technologically advanced water-usage meters citywide. Members also streamlined the permitting process for residential rooftop solar systems.
The council approved a third and final contract extension to HD Supply Waterworks for technology that allows city personnel to assess residents’ water consumption via radio frequency.
“In 2006, the Public Works Services Department began replacing water meters with data log radio-read meters,” explains a report by Tom Tait, director of the Public Works Services Department. “The goal of the Annual Meter Replacement Program is to replace the City’s approximately 13,000 manually-read water meters.”
So far public works employees have replaced 9,100, or 70 percent of existing meters, Tait told council members. The city adds about 1,000 high-tech meters each year, and Tait projected all 13,000 existing devices will be replaced by 2019.
“In addition to the increased efficiency and savings in staff time required to read and record water meters, the data log radio-read water meters are capable of recording precise measurements of a customer’s water usage, including time of use,” Tait’s report states. “This enhancement allows City staff to review accounts that are showing unusually high use and pass this information on to the customer.”
The radio-frequency meters “are more efficient, they give us better reads,” City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said. “When we ultimately get a full city network we won’t have to have individual water-meter readers. We’ll put them back into the field to do other things [during] those weeks when they now have to spend most of their time reading meters.”
The new water meters’ digital data can be “downloaded by staff and reviewed with the customer to help identify leaks and provide the customer with a history of usage on an hourly or daily basis,” the report states.
“Additionally, water meter register accuracy is important in calculating and forecasting water demands, providing precise billing data, and aiding in conservation efforts,” the report continues. “Once the data log meters are installed throughout the system, Meter Readers can be used for more technical water related maintenance assignments.”
Lazzaretto said it would have cost $2.5 million to replace all the meters in one concentrated effort.
“We thought between our staff workloads and the significant cost, it would be best to keep it on an annual basis,” Lazzaretto said.
In response to a question from Council Member Tom Beck, who requested a brief question-and-answer session with Tait and Lazzaretto on the meeting agenda item, Tait explained the city gets between 1,000 and 1,200 for the $500,000 budget appropriation from the city’s water infrastructure fund.
“It depends on what meters come up for this year to be replaced,” Tait said.
HD Supply Waterworks is based in St. Louis and has field offices nationwide.
In order to encourage the use of solar power, a state law enacted last fall requires cities and counties to adopt ordinances by Sept. 30 that establish “an expedited, streamlined permitting process for small residential rooftop solar energy systems,” according to a city staff report.
The ordinance council members approved Aug. 18 allows for the submission and approval of solar systems via email, the city’s website or by fax.
“The City currently expedites the review of such applications by reviewing and issuing applications within 2-5 days, and occasionally accepts and approves such applications over the building counter,” according to the report. “City plan review/permit fees are at a flat rate fee of $300.92 for residential installations, well below the State average and within the guidelines of the Government Code. Therefore, the City is already in substantial compliance with the State’s requirements, and the ordinance confirms the City’s actions.”
