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LISBON -- The village Board of Public Affairs is finally going through with plans to replace all water meters at once after abandoning plans to do it as the money came available.
The BPA voted at this week's meeting to accept the bid of $522,540 from Trumbull Industries to supply 1,423 modern meters that can be read electronically from the office or hand-held units operated by employees driving around in their truck. The bid was the lowest of the five received and were within the engineer's estimate.
The BPA has been wanting to replace its meters for years. A voluntary replacement program was begun in 2011 but only 370 customers opted to purchase a new meter, which was initially offered at the reduced cost of $67. After one year, the cost increased to $205, and meters were only replaced as they broke.
The BPA scrapped this approach in 2017 by adding $2.50 per month to every residential and commercial customer's bill. The plan was to begin generating additional money so the village could begin replacing meters on a piecemeal basis until all of them were swapped out.
The BPA decided last year to replace all of them at the same time and hired the Salem engineering firm of Howells & Baird to assist them.
The village intends to obtain a low-interest loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority to pay for the project, with the money generated by the $2.50 fee enough to cover the loan payments. Village council is using $23,000 from the village's federal COVID-19 assistance allocation to assist the BPA since this will reduce employee contact with customers during the pandemic.
BPA chairman Bill Hoover said installation should begin by February and be completed in June.
The new meters will eliminate the time-consuming practice of going door-to-door several weeks every month, allowing these workers to perform other tasks.
Hoover said the new meters are so sophisticated that it can alert the office whenever there is a significant increase in water usage, which is generally an indication of a waterline break.
Customers can download an app that allows them to monitor their water usage. The meter can also alert the water department if there is a problem with the meter or if it is being tampered with.
"I think that it's going to be better for our customers as well as the village because we'll be able to find a leak quicker. It will just be better all the way around," Hoover said.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com