In the coming weeks, the City of Thief River Falls will embark on a complete water meter change-out project. To begin the project, Vanguard Utility Service will contact residents via mailings to make appointments. Door hangers and phone calls will follow for those residents who don’t receive the mailed notifications.
Residents are asked to locate the main water valve next to the water meter and assure it works properly to shut the water off. If the valve is defective, is inoperable or leaks, the property owner needs to have the valve replaced prior to making the appointment to replace the meter.
All city and residential water meters are being replaced to be compatible with the Advanced Metering Infrastructure system. When the city converted to AMI in 2014, city leaders were under the impression that the new system would be able to read the city’s water meters. The city retrofitted many water meters with new heads to accommodate the new AMI system. However, quite a few water meter bodies were left in place, and the city has been waiting years for nodes. As a result, someone has to manually read the water meters without nodes, defeating the purpose of the AMI.
The new meters will be able to report water usage to a fraction of a gallon. Now, the water meters provide residential water readings to every 100 gallons. Commercial water readings are provided to every 1,000 gallons. The new meters will also enable homeowners to more easily recognize a water leak at their homes.