Water meter project nearing completion

Susan Thacker, Great Bend Tribune, Kan.
·2 min read

May 10—The Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) project for Great Bend's water meters is nearing completion, Public Works Director Jason Cauley told the City Council this week.

The crew from Zenner USA of Banning, Calif., completed the first phase of installations in the spring of 2023. Installation progressed over four phases.

"AMI should be wrapping up this week," Cauley said, adding he was assured that will happen. A full crew was sent to Great Bend this week to deal with field work. "There will be three guys working on the field, one guy working on the infrastructure. They have one piece of infrastructure to install that was damaged on top of the Events Center."

"The numbers have gone down significantly on what is left to figure out," Cauley said, adding City crews have been working with the contractors to resolve a few typical issues as they are encountered.

"So this week, like I said, they promised that they should be done with it this week. We should have everything caught up; we should have everything done. And I know, we've been here before. You heard it multiple times and we all are kind of tired of hearing it. I'll be happy to see if it comes to fruition."

Background

Planning to add automated water meters began in 2021 and in August of 2022 the city council approved a bid from Zenner USA of Banning, Calif., for an automated water meter reading system and related infrastructure at a cost of $2.46 million. The city applied for and received a loan through the Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Fund to cover the expense. Zenner is the general contractor and Municipal Install of St. Louis, Mo., is the subcontractor putting the meters in place.

With this system, water use for the city's roughly 6,600 users is beamed directly to the Water Office at the Front Door Facility. Usage can be read and tracked in real time.

This was seen as a way to improve accuracy in tracking consumer water use and save the city money. By alleviating the city's long-running water meter reading woes, it is expected to pay for itself in five to 10 years.

However, the meter installations caused several leaks, which the city also had to address.