02 Apr Meter Upgrades are Underway
OWASA’s Agua Vista Program Will Enhance Water Service for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Community
OWASA customers are beginning to receive notification of upcoming meter upgrades as part of OWASA’s Agua Vista Metering Initiative. OWASA expects to upgrade about 1,500-1,800 meters per month and to finish upgrading all meters by June 2019. Once complete, Agua Vista will help the OWASA community identify water leaks faster, empower water conservation strategies, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of water metering and billing.
A brief video on OWASA’s YouTube Channel summarizes how Agua Vista will enhance OWASA’s customer service and what customers can expect as we upgrade meters.
OWASA is working with Kentrel Inc. to upgrade more than 21,000 meters in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro service area. Customers will be notified by mail about one month before their meter is upgraded. The upgrade itself will take about 30 minutes, during which water will likely need to be cutoff for about 15 minutes. Kentrel employees will knock on a customer’s door before they begin their work. Once the upgrade is complete, Kentrel will leave a hanger on each customer’s door, leaving the site just as they found it.
Most customers do not need to be home for the installation. Customers can call 919-968-4485 if they have special water use needs and would like to set up an appointment.
Weather and other factors can influence the pace of meter upgrades. If Kentrel is not able to upgrade a meter when originally planned, it may have to be reschedule it to a later date to avoid conflicts with billing cycles. In these cases, customers may receive another notification letter.
Once a meter is upgraded, it will record hourly water use data and be read remotely. OWASA will use the hourly water use data to help identify leaks before a customer receives a high bill or property damage. Customers should contact OWASA at 919-537-4343 or info@owasa.org to confirm their contact information, so that OWASA customer service alert customers of suspected leaks as soon as possible.
Once three-quarters of the meters are upgraded, we expect to introduce an online web portal where customers can directly access their own water use data to identify water-saving strategies.
For more information on the project, please visit www.owasa.org/metering-initiative.
For questions about meter upgrades, please contact Kentrel at 919-968-4485.
For more information about the Agua Vista Metering Initiative, please contact OWASA Customer Service at 919-537-4343 or info@owasa.org.