City of North Battleford to install smart water meters in March.

New utility meters will be installed on properties in North Battleford on a zone-by-zone basis beginning March 1.

Properties will receive hand-delivered communication that will provide information on the program and explain the appointment booking process. Residents will then need to confirm their appointment within ten days by phone or online. The installation will take between 30 to 45 minutes and an adult’s presence is required during the installation. Residents are asked to keep pets inside a separate room so the technician can complete the service installation without interruption.

Mayor David Gillan said the new water meters have economic and environmental benefits that affect both the city and the homeowner.

“There is going to be a lot more accurate information about usage on-demand,” Gillan said. “Right now, the water meters are read manually. With the upgraded water meters, that process is going to be automated. Later in the year, the web portal will become available to all utility customers. No app is needed to access this web portal. All you need is an internet connection and a computer, tablet, or smartphone.”

Once the new smart water meter web portal is live, homeowners will have access to their real-time water usage from any location so long as they have internet access. These upgraded water meters will allow for remote and automatic readings. Residents will no longer need to approach the meter to obtain a water meter reading. The new system eliminates water bill estimates since it provides clients with up-to-date, accurate billing.

Mayor Gillan said homeowners will also be able to easily monitor water consumption to help identify continuous water usage caused by a water leak on their property.

“We believe that this is a great benefit for people to have more interactive information about their home water usage. Additionally, with this on-demand information, the city has the potential to notify homeowners if we see abnormally high water usage – saving the homeowner money by early detection and possibly avoiding property damage.”

An underground sprinkler line is one example the Mayor used to illustrate how the new meters and web portal could help property owners. An underground leak may not easily be detected for an extended time, resulting in wasted water and a high utility bill. He claimed the system will help property owners discover the issue early, allowing them to make repairs before the property owner’s utility bill rises a significant amount. This also saves the city from producing potable water that becomes wasted.

The system is a cost-effective method for the city as the upgrades will reduce fleet costs and fuel expenses of maintenance crews, reducing the city’s carbon footprint. Officials claim that the leak detection feature will improve the city’s water conservation and reduce infrastructure damage through emergency notifications. They add technicians will be able to troubleshoot issues quickly. The safety of technicians will be improved by reducing repetitive stress and removing them from possible environmental dangers.

Residents are asked to wait until they receive notification that their zone is being upgraded before booking an appointment.

Anyone looking for more information on the new smart water meters can visit www.cityofnb.ca/smartmeter or type in “smart water” on the city’s website.

*This content was created by battlefordsNOW’s commercial content division.