Laserfiche WebLink
The City has installed meters on all of its customers over the past 20 years, including over <br />1,680 in 2005 and 2006. <br />The City has also taken steps to improve registering water use with automated meter <br />reading (AMR) systems and meters with leak detection capabilities. The City's Tel Data <br />system has 250 addresses that report meter readings hourly, the Metron system has 20 <br />addresses which send readouts to laptops, and the Neptune system has 2,000 addresses <br />with radio meter readings. Of the Neptune units about 250 are equipped with a program <br />which can detect leaks or backflow at the meter. <br />The City also has a program that regularly inspect its larger meters; half of the meters <br />greater than 3 inches are tested every two years. Meters for large and small commercial <br />customers have been in place since 1983. Meters that are older than 10 years may be <br />targeted for replacement in order to maintain accurate water use readings. <br />Finally, the City plans to evaluate the value of installing electronic automated meter <br />reading (AMR) metering in all new construction and/or for high water use customers to <br />reduce the labor burden of meter reading and data management, and to improve site- <br />specific leak detection monitoring. <br />Leak Detection and Repair <br />Leak detection and repair is the very first and most basic water conservation activity that <br />any water provider should perform. Minimizing leaks that drain the resources of the <br />water provider is a basic requirement for sound "standard of care" management. To this <br />end, leak detection and repair focus on locating and identifying water that is either <br />unaccounted for or is not billed to customers. <br />The City has maintained a leak detection and repair program over the years, which <br />focuses on responding to leaks and conducting quick and appropriate repairs when leaks <br />have been identified. The City will plan to continue to track leaks and conduct leak <br />repairs, perform spot audits for unusually high water use, and conduct annual <br />distribution system pipe replacement for those areas with aging infrastructure. The City <br />will also evaluate the benefits of overall water distribution system mapping using sonic <br />detection devices and risk evaluations to identify and schedule future pipe replacement <br />activities. The City will review water valve and fire hydrant flushing practices to identify <br />potential water savings. <br />Reuse <br />The City has a water rights portfolio that allows for reuse of certain ditch transfers of <br />consumptive uses and Windy Gap water. Currently the City utilizes downstream <br />exchanges of its wastewater return flows to allow for increased surface water diversions <br />at its water treatment plant and other raw water supply ditches. In the future, the City <br />will evaluate other options to capture and reuse wastewater return flows utilizing Union <br />Reservoir and the existing network of canals and ditches that cross the City. Given the <br />41 <br />