More Top Picks Best Chelsea Boots For Runners
player ready...Glenview officials say residents should not have to worry about “smart” water meters registering water flows even when disconnected and say they have a new deal with the companies undertaking installation of the village’s pending wireless water meter system.
That deal comes after problems with some Sensus water meters in Aurora that provided false readings reported in July – problems that Sensus said resulted from manufacturing problems in 2014, according to Glenview officials.
Village trustees on Sept. 1 unanimously approved amendments to the village’s contracts with Sensus to replace about 1,500 “iPerl” water meters installed in Glenview between 2012 and July 30, 2015 and replace the village’s pre-existing stock of those meters for free. The company will also verify that all new meters are ones manufactured in 2015, and extend its warranty from 10 years to 15 years, officials said.
HD Supply Waterworks, the meters’ distributor, will eliminate the first year’s software as a service fee, saving Glenview $29,250, according to village data.
“This is a significant improvement,” Village President Jim Patterson said.
Sarah Kuechler, assistant to the village manager, said water meter replacement will begin later this month and last through July 2016. The village will be divided into six sections, and residents will be notified before work begins in each, she added.
Residents who have “iPerl” meters installed after 2012 will have to make an appointment to have them replaced, Kuechler said. Residents with Sensus “OMNI” meters do not have to have those replaced, she said.
Trustees approved the original contracts worth $7.3 million on March 17 with Sensus, HD Waterworks and Siemens Industries, the project’s management firm. But officials said that after reading Tribune stories in July about problems with about some Aurora smart meters providing false readings, they met with Sensus management to clarify the situation.
Kuechler said Sensus officials told her and officials from Buffalo Grove and Palatine, which also are installing new wireless water meter systems, that the problem had been water infiltrating the meters during manufacturing, but that the manufacturing process had been changed since 2014.
Mike McGann, vice president of quality for Raleigh, N.C.-based Sensus USA, told trustees on Sept. 1 the company strengthened both the meter’s watertight seal and statistical and manufacturing controls.
“From the ‘root cause’ analysis we’ve done, we’re very confident that it was the seals,” he said.
More information about the water meter replacement program is available at the village’s website.
Trustees also gave unanimous, final approval to new, state-mandated water sprinkling restrictions that will take effect in spring 2016.
Under the new rules, sprinkling on consecutive days will be banned between May 15 and Sept. 15, and Glenview will adopt an odd/even system. If residents’ addresses end in an odd number, they can use their sprinkler on odd-numbered days; if it ends in an even number, they can use their sprinkler on even-numbered days. No sprinkling will be allowed on the 31st of any month.
Sprinkling will also be barred between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. seven days per week instead of just weekdays, with officials saying those hours are when water loss to evaporation is strongest.
A 90-day exception will be made for newly laid sod or newly planted foliage.
Jon Davis is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.