Smart Water Meters are coming to North Battleford.
The exciting new program will bring efficiency and innovation to the city, offer more insights into customers’ water use, empower residents and encourage sustainability.
“It’s all about having more real-time information,” Mayor David Gillan says.
“Right now people get a quarterly water bill and sometimes there’s things that happen. Maybe somebody has a leak, their consumption is quite high, and it’s a big surprise. Now, people will be able to go online and monitor their consumption. It’s a lot more information for the homeowner, and a lot less surprises.”
The Smart Meter program will provide accurate, on-demand water usage information that can be accessed any time, from anywhere with an internet connection.
That means no more water bill estimates and no more mailing or phoning in meter reads. Residents can expect real-time reading, accurate billing, and no longer having to squeeze into a tight space to get a meter reading.
“This creates efficiency for both the homeowner and the city,” Gillan says.
Not only are homeowners able to monitor for unusually high consumption, which may indicate a hidden problem such as a broken underground sprinkler, customers can also set alerts and notifications for irregularities in their water consumption.
“We can inform residents that we’re noticing something out of the ordinary, such as leaks or backflow,” Gillan says.
“If someone is on vacation, they can ask someone to go in and fix the water before it turns into a complete disaster.”
Smart Meters also help reduce North Battleford’s environmental footprint. Less crews will have to be dispatched across the city to collect data and early alert systems will create less waste of potable water.
Installations are set to start on March 1, with installation being completed by zones.
Properties will receive a series of hand-delivered communications to notify them that their zone is scheduled for an upgrade.
To find more details about the smart water meter installation and track the upgrade progress, visit www.cityofnb.ca/smartmeter.
