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Electronic water-meter
readers pump up accuracy

Star-Bulletin staff

There'll be no more reaching into slimy, debris-filled underground recesses for Board of Water Supply meter readers.

In fact, the board expects the number of readers to be reduced to two from 23 over the next three years.

New electronic radio-read meters are being installed across Oahu as part of the board's automatic meter reading project, Mayor Jeremy Harris and Water Manager Cliff Jamile were to announce today.

The program costs $30 million and is expected to pay for itself in under six years through the reduction of meter readers, whose positions will be redeployed.

Besides being more efficient, the new system delivers more accurate readings and detects leaks more quickly, the mayor said.

A meter reader will still need to travel around island neighborhoods but will now be armed with a portable "interrogator" device that records meter readings.

As the meter reader drives by a customer's property, the radio transmitter in the vehicle will alert a small electronic device located near the meter, which will scan the meter and transmit its reading back to the portable in the vehicle.

The new meters will eventually replace more than 90 percent of the 155,000 manually read meters now used to measure water use in island homes, businesses and institutions.

Installation has already taken place in Mililani and is expected to proceed around the island in a counterclockwise pattern over the next three years, city officials said.

Customers will be notified by mail and also by a door-hanger shortly before scheduled installation. The installation will involve replacing or retrofitting existing water meters and will take about 30 minutes. Customers will not be charged for the new equipment.

The electronic gauges are widely used on the mainland and have been installed on Maui and Molokai in the past two years.