Your PUD
News Release
Automatic reading of water meters discussed
Chelan County PUD
News Release
5/9/2005
A feasibility study shows there are safety, economic and efficiency benefits to replacing PUD residential water meters with new equipment that can be read automatically.
Ron Slabaugh, PUD water engineer, and Dave Johnson, Water/Wastewater director, discussed the findings with PUD commissioners Monday. The study looked at replacing about 4,700 PUD residential water meters with new equipment that can transmit meter information to nearby handheld devices or to a receiver in a vehicle. That would save meter readers the time of manually checking each meter.
The evaluation looked at two alternatives; installing automated equipment or just new manual meters. It found the benefits of automated meters ranked higher in safety, would meet customer desire for monthly meter reading, provide more accurate readings to ensure revenue and meet new state requirements for information on water conservation and leak detection.
It would also allow existing staff to handle system growth.
Installing the new equipment is estimated to cost about $1 million and would take about 15 months to complete.
Commissioners will be asked for a decision on May 23 when Water Department staff is scheduled to ask for budget approval.
PUD to support Columbia River exhibit
PUD commissioners approved $10,000 to support the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center project, “River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia.”
The exhibit of historical photos, combined with poetry and silk images of 29 species of fish native to the Columbia, will debut in Wenatchee in 2006 and then travel to at least six other Northwest museums. Poetry and photos will also be combined in a book to be published by the University of Washington.
It will be the first time photographs – historical and current - of the entire Columbia from mouth to source will be displayed together, said Bill Layman, Wenatchee historian and co-curator. He and Keith Williams, museum director, talked with PUD commissioners Monday.
Williams said about $120,000 of the $200,000 needed for the project has been raised.
In other business, commissioners:
- Accepted the $5.6 million bid of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Seoul, South Korea, to provide up to seven generator step-up transformers for Rock Island Dam. Hyundai submitted the lowest responsible bid of five received.
- Talked with Washington PUD Association representatives Steve Johnson, executive director, and Lynn Heminger, Douglas PUD commissioner and president of the state association, about the group’s plan to build an office in Olympia. Association members, including Chelan County PUD, will be asked to decide on the proposal in July.
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The next meeting of the PUD Board of Commissioners is at 1 p.m. on May16 when they will tour of Rock Island Dam.
Most PUD commission meetings are recorded, and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s home page at www.chelanpud.org.
Kimberlee Craig
Public Information Officer
661-4320, direct line
679-6858, cell
kimc@chelanpud.org