(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Water meter replacements

Humboldt greenlights up to 200K in water meter replacements

Jan 24, 2024 | 12:00 PM

The City of Humboldt will soon replace a number of older water meters.

Council approved the allocation of up to an additional $200,000 to replace 457 small diameter water meters.

“They’re getting to an age where we’re starting to see failures,” explained Director of Public Works and Utilities Peter Bergquist.

Humboldt has approximately 2,600 water meters, with many installed between 2004 and 2008. In 2018, the city observed some meters were seizing, parts were breaking off inside the meters, and electronics were failing. That occurred prior to the 20 year pro-rated warranties.

Bergquist told northeastNOW the supplier offered a discount due to the meters failing before the warranty elapsed.

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“They were accommodating, they gave us a bit of a discount on replacing those meters with brand-new meters,” Bergquist said. The report brought forth to council indicated the meters were being offered to Humboldt at a 40 per cent discount.

The reduction was agreed upon to “address the failures, resolve staff concerns, time spent replacing, and working through the complicated pro-rated warranty processes,” according to the report to council.

The report stated staff have observed about 50 to 80 water meter failures per year since 2018, and that rate is expected to increase, with over 1,600 older meters remaining in the city.

When the meters fail, the city “no longer (has) the ability to track how much water is actually being consumed by each household,” Bergquist explained. “We compare how much water is being consumed with how much we purchase through the SaskWater pipeline, and the difference is how much we have to focus on finding breaks in our actual pipe network throughout the city.”

The new meters are expected to be purchased soon, with their anticipated between June and September. Bergquist said installations will take place during the remainder of 2024, through 2025, and possibly into 2026.

He said all meters fail over time, and this is only a portion of their network, and ongoing replacements will be needed after that, typical of any city.

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On x: @northeastNOW_SK