INNISFAIL - With just over 70 per cent of Innisfail's 3,600 homes and businesses now refitted with new state-of-the-art water meter registers the town is making a final "push" for the remaining 900 to call for installation service.
"The push now is to get these last ones down, for people to get their appointments booked," said Rod Fraser, the town's director of operations. "It is a mandatory upgrade. It needs to be done for the system."
Since last May the town, in partnership with Master Meter Canada (MMC), has been undergoing mandatory upgrades to the water meter reading systems at every residence and business in the community.
The town wants to have the new water meter register project completed by the end of October. It has been pushing the message to residents and businesses that they need to book their appointments with MMC, which has been contracted to supply and install the new system. First and secondary notice letters were sent out in June and September, with reminder notices put in September utility bills. MMC is also calling home and business owners to help them book installation appointments.
With just under a month and a half left until the end of October deadline, the town is encouraging all community members to call 403-341-1685 to book their installation appointments and avoid being hit with account penalties and/or a loss of water service, as is stated under the municipal Utilities Bylaw.
Fraser said the actual installation takes only minutes, and residents will soon see many new benefits and efficiencies.
"It is not just a new meter. There's a big upgrade for us. It is putting more control in the hands of the consumer for water usage," he said of the new system's benefits. "The system helps detect leaks, like a leaky toilet all night long. It will flag that for you and once you have the app set up you can have it flagged to do certain things and give you certain kinds of information.
"They (citizens) will be able to regulate themselves, and spend less if they wish, use less water, pinpoint problems with their system that give a pocketbook hit," he added.
As for the benefits for the town, it will mean the end of monthly meter readings by staff and they can now be reassigned to do other important civic duties.
"We don't have to actually have someone come out and read them. It (system) transmits radio frequencies," said Fraser.
The town announced a year ago it was moving aggressively ahead with an ambitious $573,000 initiative to replace all faulty water meter registers in the community with high-tech units designed to give citizens and businesses more peace of mind and greater control on usage. The old registers, which were installed in town from 2010 to 2012, were supposed to have a lifespan of between 12 and 15 years, but engineering errors were occurring in the third year.
The town then moved ahead to acquire new and more efficient registers, which are equipped with remote reading capabilities and are capable of streamlining the water usage data collection process for both property owners and town staff. Citizens also have the ability to monitor their water consumption via their smartphones, while town staff are able to collect twice-daily water meter readings instead of just once a month.
The town has said there will be no direct cost to citizens for the replacement program or changes to their utility rate. The total cost is coming out of the town’s water reserve account.
