Not just a 'little leak': Wellington eyes water meter plan to stop loss of millions of gallons each year

WELLINGTON — Each year, 66 million gallons of water flow through Wellington's lines and disappear, unaccounted for. Yes, a little is lost to leaks — but for the most part it isn't seeping into the ground, Water Superintendent Jon Love said. Some is flushed from hydrants, or gushes out when a main breaks, he admitted. The vast majority, though, is used by customers and just not billed because old water meters are horribly inaccurate. That is why Wellington is gearing up for a meter replacement program that could cost at least $1.15 million and potentially north of $2 million, according to Village Manager Jonathan Greever. "It's high time for us to look at improving the system to begin with," he said. "Separately, we're looking at a lot of the technological improvements that an automated metering system would bring into place." Lost water is a problem for every town in America, Love said. Generally, 10 percent is considered acceptable. Wellington's problem is much bigger. About 35 percent of all its water is unaccounted for. It's "lost" when the mechanical parts of meters wear out, slowly becoming less and less accurate. That means home and business owners are using water they're not paying for. Water plant operator Don Novotny said a lot of meters in the village are 20 to 30 years old. Even some of the "new" developments in Wellington are about 30 years old, and have never had meters replaced, he said. Wellington has one big advantage: It operates its own water treatment plant. Novotny said higher-quality water is easier on meters and prolongs their useful life. But there's still a hard limit on how long they can be used. "We're starting to hit double-digit inaccuracies at about 18 years," Greever said. They typically double within three or four years after that. Replacing every meter in Wellington would cut water loss to 10 percent or 15 percent, Love believes. That's important for homeowners, but also for industrial customers that use water by the millions of gallons, he said. The village is looking at replacing electric meters at the same time, but water is the big issue in terms of cost, and water meters are also harder to change out because they're located inside homes. Novotny estimates the cost of new meters — the equipment only — will be at least $650,000 for a "budget" solution and upward of $1 million for a more robust one. That doesn't include installation, which Greever said could run in the neighborhood of $500,000. Add to that some significant overtime and other incidental costs of a full, villagewide switchover, and the price tag climbs even higher, he said. Inflation is also a factor that concerns village officials, as well as lead-time delays caused by that now-familiar villain: supply chain issues. Village Council President Gene Hartman said using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds isn't an option anymore. Wellington's allotment from Congress has been put aside for other projects. He's already started exploring other options, including state funding and grants, but said purchasing new meters probably involves borrowing money. "The reason I'm involved with this to begin with is the rate increases we've been experiencing over the years," he said. Hartman said he's not OK with continuing to jack up utility rates every three years just to cover the cost of lost water. Fixing the problem will stop the village from hemorrhaging money, which will help recoup a large part of the project cost, Greever said. On the flip side, accurate bills will also be higher. That makes the project a hard sell to the public, Schneider said. That's a big reason he's trying to get information out in advance, he said. The alternative is to do nothing, which Schneider said is not possible: "It's only going to get worse," he said. Love compared the situation to a car with far too many miles on the odometer. "When you drive it for 50,000 miles, you continue to drive it," he said. "What about when it has 400,000 miles on it?" New meters will probably come bundled with more advanced features that will directly benefit customers, he said. Automatic alarms for leaks or bad batteries, the ability to check usage in real time online or automated alerts for peak use all used to be "Cadillac" bells and whistles, but are now pretty standard, Love said. Because the project has yet to be bid out, it's unclear which of those features might be included, Greever said. Yet his eye is on a metering system that provides residents with use alerts, a perk he said would be especially useful for snow birds. A sink leak in January, when a Wellington resident is wintering in Florida, doesn't have to go undetected for months, causing a huge bill and potentially devastating damage, Greever said. "We'll be able to shut it off at the main immediately, you know?" Love said. "So we'll get warnings on that. That's a great weapon in the arsenal to have." Not to be overlooked is the reduction of work for Wellington employees. Novotny said meter reading is done in-house now, and takes six days a month. A system that wirelessly reports those numbers to the utilities office would free village workers to handle other tasks, he said. Village officials plan to start talking to meter companies in early January. Depending on how fast Village Council moves, and what kind of bids are put forward, Greever said he hopes to have a clear picture on pricing and installation by mid-2023. A January 2024 rollout of the new meters is possible, he said. Hartman said he expects Council to jump to fix a long-term problem that has long sapped Wellington's budget. "We know it has to be done. There really is no option," he said. Jason Hawk can be reached at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.