GRAVETTE — Gravette City Council recently authorized the purchase of 100 water meters to replace older electronic-read meters as they become inoperative.

The new meters are a “giant leap ahead” of the meters that were installed several years ago.

They can pinpoint when leaks occur in the homeowner’s water lines, allowing the owner, as well as the city, to better identify a problem area. The older meters do not have this capability.

Steve Olds, Gravette’s “meter man”, has already installed about 400 of the new meters in Gravette’s system - most of them in town, several in the water west and water east areas.

The meters provide a daily log of water consumption and can pinpoint day-by-day when excess water usage occurred such as might occur with a malfunctioning commode, a break in a water line or even when the owner fills his swimming pool.

When the meter shows abnormal use Olds can transfer the stored information to a computer in the city vehicle which the homeowner can see on a monitor. Back in the office, a printout can be made.

“The system helps the homeowner know when the excess water usage occurred,” Olds said. “It eliminates a lot of misunderstanding when he (the customer) can see justwhat happened.”

It helps in identifying isolated water usage peaks and also can determine if the leak is an ongoing problem.

Olds has been in charge of meters several years. He said he has been selftrained in how the computer/electronic system functions and is glad to be able to work with water customers as their problems occur.

“I really enjoy my job,” he said.

Since the new meters cost about $140 each, the city will continue to purchase them in small quantities and eventually will replace all of the approximately 1,400 meters in use.

News, Pages 9 on 05/05/2010