The city of Gainesville is well on its way to make reading water meters a whole lot easier, thanks to the installation of “end points” to the city’s existing water system meters.
The end points work to automatically calculate water usage. They will fully replace the city’s former way of recording the usage, which involves physically checking each water meter at each residence or business in the city at the end of the billing period and calculating the water usage from the previous month’s reading. About 140 of the 454 city water meters have end points installed now, city officials say.
“End points are added onto our existing meters and through our meter box lids to allow a signal to transmit water meter readings. These end points record readings every hour and send the readings into the system a couple times a day,” City Water Specialist Jessi Price explained. “This is an updated way to check your water usage and be notified of any leaks or forgotten garden hoses left on. We will check for leaks daily at the office and will notify you when needed.”
Price advises city water customers to make sure City Hall has an updated phone number on file, so notification of issues or leaks is quick and easy. She also asks residents to use caution when mowing, lifting the water meter lid or selecting an area to burn leaves to avoid damaging the end points and meters.
Customers who would like to monitor their own water usage can do so by downloading the “Eye On Water” app from the Google or Apple app store. Customers will need to enter in their name (as it appears on their water bill) and their city water account number to get started.
“If you have any questions, please let us know. We are only sending this notification out to those who are currently eligible for the app. When we get more endpoints in, we will continue getting the town installed,” Price said.
The city has been working for the last few years to switch out the water meters. Price says that the Department of Natural Resources recommends water meters are changed out every 10 years, and Gainesville’s water meters have gone several years beyond that recommendation.
“When covid hit, like many things, our orders of most supplies went on back-order and are just now getting more regular. We have spent the last three years changing out meters as we can and as we receive them to get the system ready,” Price said.
In 2022, the Gainesville City Council approved the purchase of end points to add to water meters to allow daily uploads of meter usages.
“So far, we’ve made a lot of phone calls to people about a leak that has either been a leak or a hose or sink left on,” Price said.
When all the water meters are updated with the end points, city employees will have an extra two or three days a month to make other updates and repairs throughout the city rather than reading water meters.
For more information or to provide an updated phone number, call Gainesville City Hall at 417-679-4858.