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Yorkville says residents could see higher readings on new water meters · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Yorkville says residents could see higher readings on new water meter This
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  article is being read by an automated voiced brought to you by
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  Everlett. As The
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  city of Yorkville moves toward completion of its water meters replacement program,
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  The
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  city acknowledged that some residents have voiced concerns about readings being substantially
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  higher than before. The city said this can be expected when older
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  faulty water meters are replaced with newer, precise ones. The city is
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  replacing about 5,200 meters across town, including in all residences. The newer
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  meters are designed to help the city reduce non-revenue water loss as
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  part of the 224.4 million Lake Michigan Water Sourcing Project. The
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  city previously approved a 1,830,389 contract
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  with Corin Maine for the project. Public Works Director Eric Deuce said
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  the project has about one hundred water meter replacements left. He said
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  the project should be wrapped up by the October first deadline. During
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  the September 8 city council meeting, a resident questioned why the water
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  usage on his bill jumped from about 901,000 cubic feet of water
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  every two months to 2,200 cubic feet. Mayor John Purcell said he
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  had heard of other residents having similar issues after the newer water
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  meter were installed. City Administrator Bart Olson said spikes in water usage
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  readings are common when replacing older meters. Increased usage is not uncommon.
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  After five to ten years, the average meter is around twenty percent
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  underreported. A fifty percent mark is not out of the question for
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  a meters that's super old and doesn't work properly, Olson said during
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  the meeting. We definitely have seen that from time to time. Dew
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  said The
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  city has the ability to print out a fuller and more accurate
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  water usage history using the newer meters. He said if the city
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  does find defective meters among the newer ones, the city will install
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  another new meter and adjust the bill to the old water use
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  average until it's corrected. Them city hopes to be finished by the
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  October 1 deadline so it can capture and measure a full year
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  of citywide usage with all new water meters, Deus said. Most of
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  them older water meters throughout them city were at least twenty years
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  old. Deuce previously said the advantages of the newer meters are the
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  ability for staff to read them remotely without having to walk by
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  and collect the data. He said this will improve response times to
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  homeowners questions. We will be able to provide residents hour by hour
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  accurate readings and even alert them for high water usage to help
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  save them money, Dewes said. Need to reduce water loss? As part
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  of the city's transition to Lake Michigan water, the state was requiring
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  all participating towns to reduce their annual water loss to below the
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  10 non-revenue rate. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the
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  Illinois Department of Natural Resources have since taken that water loss figure
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  under review, as it was discovered that disturbing older pipes to install
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  newer ones actually creates more water breaks in the short term, as
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  the water rushes towards weak spots left in the pipelines in addition
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  to installing more efficient water meters, the city has been replacing older
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  water mains across town. Olson said the state told Yorkville to hang
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  tight for several months until they were ready to roll out newer
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  standards statewide. Olson previously said, the state indicated, Yorkville would be fine
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  with the water loss improvements the city already has made, although it
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  still is higher than the original 10 non-revenue rate. Yorkville should receive
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  the first Lake Michigan water down the new pipelines in summer 2028.