Water Meter Equipment Upgrade Project
The Borough of Carlisle Water Resources staff will be installing an enhancement to the current water metering system in each property connected to the Borough’s drinking water system. The project is expected to run from October 2020 through December 2021 and once fully implemented will increase the efficiency of the meter reading process. The future of automatic meter reading is now!
Project Details
Every property connected to the Borough’s drinking water system is equipped with a water meter system to measure the volume of water used by the customer. The Borough currently bills its customers quarterly based on the water meter reading so that each customer only pays for what is used. There are about 7,200 metering systems installed throughout the Borough. The metering system currently has three components: a meter, a readout button, and a handheld meter reading device. The meter is the device attached to the copper pipe feeding water into the structure served and measures and records the volume of water used. Below is a side and top view of a typical water meter without the water piping shown.
The touchpad is the black, disc-shaped button that is typically attached to the exterior of each building connected to the Borough’s drinking water system. The touchpad connects to the water meter via a single wire. The wire transfers the metering data to the touchpad, where it is stored until collection. Each billing cycle, Borough employees walk to each touchpad and place a handheld wand over the touchpad to download the accumulated metering data. The employee then transfers the collected metering data into the Borough’s billing software to generate customer bills.
The Water Meter Equipment Upgrade Project is intended to make the billing process more efficient and accurate. Borough staff will be installing a Meter Transponder Unit (MXU) over the top of the touchpad. The MXU contains a small, battery-powered radio transmitter that will send the meter data to the Borough’s customer billing computer. The Borough has installed an antenna to the top of the Ridge Street water storage tank to receive the data from the MXUs and transfer it to the Borough’s billing computer located in Borough Hall. Once all the MXUs are installed, the Borough will no longer need to have staff manually read and transfer the collected water meter data. The installed MXUs will allow each meter to be read remotely. Because the new system will provide the Borough with continuous access to metering data, this new system will allow us to identify possible leaks on the customer's side of the meter thus saving the customer money; while conserving water since the leak can be discovered much sooner than with traditional meter reading methods.
In most cases, the installation of the MXU should only take about 10 minutes. Work will occur on weekdays from 7:00 AM to 4:30 PM.Water service will not be disrupted. Below is a before and after photograph of a typical MXU installation.
The Borough will contact properties directly if the MXU installation requires a large change to the location of the touchpad.
Project Benefits
- Provides early leak detection, saving our customers and the Borough thousands of dollars every year
- Eliminates the need to estimate your bill due to inclement weather
- Eliminates the need for a water meter reader to visit your property
- Improves the accuracy of every bill
