(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

In the chambers

North Battleford to install new smart water meters this fall

Jul 22, 2020 | 12:00 PM

North Battleford residents can expect to see the city’s new water meters installed starting this fall.

Council approved the policy and timelines for the installation of the new smart meters at its meeting this week.

“This is really exciting,” Mayor Ryan Bater said. “It will transform the relationship that we all have with our water utility. It will give us a lot more access and a lot more information about our usage, and offer us alerts.”

He said for residents with a water leak or perhaps a gasket on their toilet that is leaking they are not aware of, the new system will provide information to alert them of the situation so they can fix the problem sooner.

City council initially approved administration’s proposal in June to enter into a contract with KTI Limited/Sensus Canada to change all city water meters to what are described as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) water meters.

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KTI Limited/Sensus Canada representatives will contact residents to set up a suitable time to replace the existing water meter with the new one. In any cases where residents don’t respond after the company has made repeated attempts to contact them, they risk having their water shut off and a further charge and administration fee due to the additional cost KTI Limited/Sensus Canada will incur in delaying the change over. So it is important they make contact with the provider.

Crews will begin installing the new meters around mid-November. The province’s COVID-19 precautions will also be considered. The city is still finalizing which part of the city will have the meters installed first. People who are away on holidays or for any other reason can schedule another time that is appropriate for them.

“There will be options, but we just wanted to ensure we had an established policy to actually see the installation of these meters,” Bater said.

—

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow