City Replacing $3.6 Million Worth of Water Meters

Crews will be replacing more than 14,000 water meters throughout Edina, as the aging devices' batteries are starting to fail.

Edina upgraded its water meters back in the mid-'90s to a system that allows them to be read remotely, using radio frequencies. With the batteries in those radios now failing "at a very high rate," the had planned to simply replace the batteries.

A combination of changing radio bandwidth by the FCC and small amounts of lead in some meters led the City Council to approve the complete replacement of approximately 14,000 meters throughout Edina.

Interim Assistant Public Works Director Dave Goergen told the Star Tribune the company that manufactured the old meter-reading system is no longer in business, meaning the city can't get any sort of technical support when problems arise.

"They're at the point where if the reading system fails, they can't do anything about it," Goergen said. "It would be like finding someone to work on a steam locomotive."

Ferguson Waterworks technicians are handling replacement of the city's residential meters, with Edina employees helping out with commercial and industrial meters.

Curious as to when your meter will be replaced? Consult the map above to see when the city expects to replace meters in your neighborhood.

The City will be sending letters to property owners throughout hte process, asking them to schedule appointments during the week installers will be in their area.

The replacement is free for homeowners and installation takes approximately 20 minutes in total. Homeowners are responsible for clearing the area surrounding the water meter prior to installation—see the above PSA—as neither employees nor Ferguson Waterworks technicians will move items to gain access to the meter.

The $3.6 million dollar meter replacement project is expected to be complete by June of 2013.

Like Edina Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our daily newsletter