[Durham INC] Important water meter information
Lorisa Seibel
Lorisa at DAHC.org
Tue Sep 28 08:24:42 EDT 2010
Thank you for your quick and detailed response.
Please educate customers about how to check their meters for leak
status in the water bills now.
Monthly water bills with leak status are a very good idea for the
future.
On Sep 28, 2010, at 7:57 AM, Blankenship, Aaron wrote:
Customers have the ability to check their water meter for leak status
as well as troubleshooting leaks. The new water meters check for usage
in 96 – 15 minute intervals in a 24 hour period. If you have 50 or
more intervals with water consumption your leak detector will be
flashing. If you have water consumption on all 96 intervals your water
meter’s leak detector will stay solid. If you have water consumption
for less than 50 of the 96 intervals your leak indicator will not
light up. Meter Technicians will document a leak for customers so that
they may receive a credit to their account if it is documented and the
customer has a repair bill or receipts for materials required to
repair the leak. I believe the City of Durham’s Customer Service
Department will issue one credit per year for this type of problem.
Meter Technicians will look at the flow rate and movement of the
reading when all the water is turned off to document a leak. Also, to
determine if the leak is an inside leak or outside leak the customer
may shut off the main cut-off to the residence; if the movement on the
meter ceases we know that the leak is inside the residence. If the
movement continues it is most likely a leak on the service line in the
yard.
The new meters also offer much more data on consumption history and
Water and Sewer Maintenance may provide a 90 day history of hourly
consumption. We are in the beginning phases of training for the City
of Durham’s Meter Technicians, Customer Service Field Service
Representative’s and Conservation personnel. With each phase of the
replacement contract the City of Durham is receiving the hardware
required to interrogate the new meters and soon should be able to
provide these 90 day histories upon request. Customers may call to
request a “Data-Log” of their new meters from Water and Sewer
Maintenance or Customer Billing Services.
The leak status is broadcast with the reading and the City of Durham
has begun discussing how to include that information on the water
bill. The City of Durham also plans to move to a monthly billing
system in the future which would alert customers much more quickly of
a problem.
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Aaron Blankenship
AMR Coordinator
City Of Durham NC
Water Management
(919) 560-4344 ext 35355
Public Works Operations Center
1100 MLK Pkwy
Durham NC 27707
From: Lorisa Seibel [mailto:Lorisa at DAHC.org]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 6:45 AM
To: Blankenship, Aaron
Cc: inc listserv
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Important water meter information
Aaron:
With this new system, how quickly will the City inform residents of a
water leak?
Currently, residents may not know until they get their bill 2 months
later.
Lorisa
On Sep 27, 2010, at 9:28 PM, TheOcean1 at aol.com wrote:
I'm rarely at a loss for words, but I struggle to describe the
combination of stupidity and brilliance shown by our water dept.lately.
I spoke with one of the engineers recently, and it seems the concerns
that got my panties in such a wad were unfounded, the raised meters
posing trip hazards, were going to be lowered again anyway.
From my recent conversation and the email below from an outstanding
water dept engineer, it seems that the meters we currently enjoy
(flush to the ground) were installed decades ago and were too close to
the surface in some cases to avoid a freeze hazard, and other issues
too technical to describe. Very old mistakes, that could be taken care
of along with the new upgrade of readable meters that are also being
installed currently. If I were the PR dept for the water dept. (which
I'm obviously not) I'd be screaming "hey, look at us taking care of
two problems at once".
It would appear that the water dept should be patted on the back for
taking care of an ancient problem while outfitting the city for the
future, but I still think they deserve a whack on the butt for their
failure to communicate.
The Herald Sun in a recent editorial comment, "Anderson is a pro at
communicating his desires, and the water department could learn a lot
about how to get information into the public sphere."
I'm very seriously complimented, but let's be honest with each other.
The water bills reach everyone who gets water in Durham, and that bill
contains a city newsletter, and it reaches ten times the number of
Herald subscribers, yet nary a word of this has reached those masses.
While I felt pretty lonely complaining in this public forum, I heard
from plenty of you that shared my concern about the trip hazard. I
hope you are as pleased as I am to learn the meters will be flush with
the ground again someday, and that the water dept has also killed two
birds with one stone.
But I still have to ask, "Why are you hearing that from me instead of
the water dept itself?"
Aaron, the engineer below, seemed both brilliant and dedicated, and
quite capable of communicating.
Since I don't wish to be the water dept's spokesperson, I asked him if
he'd be willing to speak to my neighborhood or any others that might
be interested. He seemed more than willing, so contact him directly if
your neighborhood wishes to learn more about the meters already
installed, or the ones to come.
Bill Anderson
In a message dated 9/25/2010 5:24:14 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Aaron.Blankenship at durhamnc.gov
writes:
Mr. Anderson,
I am responding per your request for an email pertaining to the
conversation we had this week about the service work that will be
required at your residence. I would also like to address any Home
Owners Association that you may be a part of that has questions
regarding the Water Meter Replacement or the Meter Service
Specification.
The specification for the waters meters in the City of Durham has
always required 8”-10” from the bottom of the lid to the angle valve
on the meter service. Many water meter services have settled or have
been installed at the incorrect height over the years. Water and Sewer
Maintenance had moved forward to correct this issue to allow the meter
service to fit the profile of the new water meters and to protect from
any freeze hazard. Water and Sewer maintenance had been moving in
front of the meter replacement contractors raising the meter boxes to
accept the profile of the new water meters in an effort to complete
entire Billing Districts. Water and Sewer Maintenance crews had been
raising water meter boxes and creating Service Orders for the Service
Crews to come and either lower the water meter service or in the event
that the water meter box has settled below grade over time to raise it
up and landscape (top soil, grass and straw) the area adequately. The
Service Crews are working in the order that the Service Orders were
created and will be lowering or landscaping any meter box that has
been raised above grade. All Water Meter Boxes that had been raised
above grade will be lowered to grade.
The new water meters are not required to be above ground to perform as
intended. The new automatic meter reading (AMR, Neptune’s R900i E-
coder plus) water meters function in a meter pit setting with an
external antennae for maximum range (up to one mile with low humidity
and optimum topography) or an internal antennae for limited range
(optimum range of 300 yards). The City of Durham has been testing
these meters in difficult environments for the past three years and
has been testing the technology for the past nine years. The new
meters have an LCD display that is solar powered, require no battery
for metering processes and are equipped internally with batteries for
broadcasting purposes. The new meters, upon opening the lid will show
a code and alternate between a reading and a flow rate (flow rate is
in cubic feet per minute – 7.48 gallons per minute) and a flow
direction arrow. Your new water meters will have nine digits
registering to the one thousandth of a cubic foot (000000.001 or
0.000134 Gallons). Meter Readers (AMR and manual) will read the whole
numbers of the reading, the numbers below the decimal place are for
testing purposes only and not used in billing. Also every meter
employs a leak detector which in the case of the AMR meter will show
as a water faucet with a drop of water in the upper left hand corner
of the LCD display. If the leak indicator is flashing it indicates an
intermittent leak, water has been used for at least 50 of the 96 15
minute intervals during a 24 hour period. if the leak indicator is
solid it indicates a consistent leak, water usage for all 96 15 minute
intervals during a 24 hour period.
I have included a link to the different functions and properties of
your new AMR Water Meter as well as the Water Meter Specification
(page 20) available on the City of Durham’s Engineering web page. I am
excited to be a part of the City of Durham’s AMR process which will
help achieve a new level of customer service and provide information
to our customers about our water resources.
If you have any questions or you have concerns after the work is
completed please contact me at 919-560-4344 Ext- 35355
Thank you
<image002.png>
Aaron Blankenship
AMR Coordinator
City Of Durham NC
Water Management
(919) 560-4344 ext 35355
Public Works Operations Center
1100 MLK Pkwy
Durham NC 27707
_______________________________________________
Durham INC Mailing List
list at durham-inc.org
http://www.durham-inc.org/list.html
Lorisa Seibel
Durham Affordable Housing Coalition
400 W. Main St. Suite 408, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 683-1185 ext. 25
(fax) 688-0082
Lorisa at dahc.org
www.dahc.org
Lorisa Seibel
Durham Affordable Housing Coalition
400 W. Main St. Suite 408, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 683-1185 ext. 25
(fax) 688-0082
Lorisa at dahc.org
www.dahc.org
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