Sacramento, California has made some tough decisions recently about which areas of its water infrastructure it will upgrade first.
The areas in question are the water meters of the entire city or the water mains and other projects.
The City Council has allowed Sacramento to draw from funds originally intended for upgrading the mains to instead upgrade the meters.
Water Online reports why:
“Bill Busath with the Department of Utilities explained how the decision will look on paper.
“Initially the cost is less because of the backyard mains that we will not be replacing, that we will be leaving in the backyard. But, as those mains are replaced, those savings will be made up and we’ll probably even have a little bit of extra expenses in the long term,” he said, per the report.
Under this plan, water main upgrades and water meter installations will occur in different phases.
About “12,400 backyard meters will have to be replaced and re-installed when the water mains are eventually removed. Busath says over a 40-year period, the City might spend $20 million extra by the time it has replaced the last backyard main,” the report said.”
Sometimes cities on limited budgets are forced to make hard calls and leave equally important projects for a later date, and ultimately Sacramento has made this decision based on the best advice available to them.
This is good practice in Infrastructure Asset Management and will help the city to stay focused and in control for the future.
Additionally, in drought constrained areas, water meters can have a very positive effect in reducing long-term demand per household.
There is nothing like a regular water meter bill to focus householders attention on leakage reduction, and the prudent use of water.
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