We will reduce the amount of time spent reading meters – walking from building to building – and therefore avoid having to add personnel as our customer base grows. The radio-read units will allow also us to remove the small black “reader boxes” currently installed on the outside of many buildings, and will reduce the possibility of errors from manually recorded readings.

BWD began conversion to radio-read units in 2000, and to date we have completed about 1900 of our 10,600 meter installations (located in seven communities). About 600 larger meters are in commercial and large residential installations, another 400 cover Eddington and Orrington, and the remainder are scattered throughout the system.

Over the next three years, we expect to install another 2000 meters – beginning with smaller commercial installations and apartment complexes. These installations will save our meter reader significant time in obtaining readings.

The District will notify you when the water meters in your area will be changed, and will schedule an appointment to enter your building. The water meter is typically located in the basement (where the water line comes in from the street) or in a utility closet. The meter change-out process takes about 30 minutes.