FPUD approves meter and transmitting purchases

The Fallbrook Public Utility District board approved the purchase of equipment for FPUD's meter replacement program.

A 5-0 FPUD board vote July 23 approved the purchase of 1,215 Badger meters from National Meter and Automation for $287,920.48 including sales tax and the purchase of 1,215 Itron 100-watt encoder receiving transmitters and repeaters from Inland Water Works Supply for $204,704.19 including sales tax.

"We're just continuing to do the meter replacement program," said FPUD acting general manager Jack Bebee.

FPUD first purchased water meters with encoder receiving transmitters in 2002, which allowed meter reading to be converted to a drive-by system. The drive-by meter reading not only reduced the staff time needed to read the meters but also allowed far more accurate reads.

As the radio meters began approaching the end of their reliable lifespan the district began a five-year program to replace the meters and radio-based endpoints. FPUD's board approved the first phase of the replacement program in July 2015, authorized the second phase of the replacements in July 2016, and approved the third group of replacements in March 2017. During the first three years of the five-year program 5,024 out of the district's 9,236 meters were replaced.

In February 2016 FPUD's board approved a three-year professional services contract with WaterSmart Software, Inc., for a water use data program. The software in conjunction with the advanced metering infrastructure will provide the district with alerts of leaks or other high usage and will also provide for management and enforcement of use limit violations.

The customer portal of the WaterSmart software allows all-hours access to the on-line Web and mobile portal, real-time usage data, gallons per day usage information and a personalized water score, personalized water-saving actions, neighborhood comparisons, season usage data, an estimated annual end use, historical trends and a history of user actions, and alerts.

FPUD staff will replace the meters.