Burke taking bids for new water meters

Burke County is replacing its water meters, a move that will allow the county to keep better track of a resource that has been costing $2.25 million annually in unaccounted-for water.

The county is requesting bids for the purchase and installation of 2,600 new meters. County Manager Brian Epley said the current meters are well past their expected lifespans and need to be replaced as part of routine maintenance.

Currently, the county is unable to account for 35% of its water. Burke County buys 30% more water and pays for 52% more sewer than it uses.

To help figure out where the problem lies, the county commissioned an AIA (Asset Infrastructure Assessment) last year to help track down where the water is disappearing.

The results of that study are due to be released at the county board of commissioners’ budget workshop next week. Inaccurate meters are a likely culprit for at least some of the losses.

But Epley said regardless of the results of the assessment, the meters are due to be replaced. Water meters typically last seven to 10 years, but Burke’s haven’t been replaced in approximately 15 years.

“The water meter project is something completely separate from the AIA study,” Epley said. “This is something that we’ve been planning for a couple of years.”

“When you start talking about ‘unaccounted for’ anything, knowing that you have good infrastructure in the ground is certainly a value-add, and certainly something that will help.”

The project will require no local money. The county has secured $1.3 million in grant funding, with $1.1 million coming from the Division of Environmental Quality’s Clean Water Fund, and the remaining $200,000 coming from the General Assembly.

Epley said the grant funding should easily cover the costs and will enable the county to complete the replacements all at once instead of incrementally.

“We do feel confident that for less than the amount of grant money we have, we can buy the meters and fully subcontract the installation,” Epley said. “That is a big deal, because if we had to do that installation in-house, it would take us a couple years to do it. But getting a contractor will allow us to get through it in a couple months.”

According to the bid advertisement, installation should take about five months and cost about $466,650.

Epley isn’t sure what the unit cost will be for the meters, but said the new equipment must be approved by the DEQ before it can be deployed. The meter purchase bidding period ends March 18 and installation bidding ends March 21.

Burke provides water to 2,230 residential customers and sewer service to 225. Most of those customers are located on the eastern end of the county.