WATER DISTRIBUTION CURRENT PROJECT:
In October, 2009, the Board of Trustees of Denison
Municipal Utilities (DMU) approved a project that will ultimately
replace all residential, commercial and industrial water meters in
Denison. For years, DMU has seen a
significant increase in unaccounted water, based on the gallons
pumped from our wells compared to the gallons actually metered and sold
to our customers. Not only is water loss a concern based on
prudent and efficient uses of our natural resources, it also
significantly increases the cost of water treatment thereby adversely
affecting water rates.
Another advantage to
having new water meters in the system will be the ability to read the
meter readings remotely via a radio signal. No longer will a DMU
employee need to walk to every meter to get a reading. Instead
they will be able to drive through town and receive the consumption
readings as they pass by a home or business. Once the electric and
water meters are all changed, the radio read process will shorten the
billing cycle, provide more accurate readings and will allow the DMU
employees to expand their work duties to other activities.
Beginning in March, DMU employees will be contacting you to set up a
time when they can install the new water meters in your home or
business. Obviously we will need access to your existing meter so
any assistance you can provide in advance of our visit to help the
employees complete the conversion would be greatly appreciated. We
estimate that it will, on average, only take 10-15 minutes to complete
the new installation.
Also, in an effort to minimize any inconvenience to our customers, the
DMU employees will take a quick inventory of your basement sump pumps
after the water meter conversion is finished. As you may know, DMU
is also working to identify and remove all storm water from entering the
sanitary sewer system. State of Iowa and City of
Denison
laws have determined that cross connections between the storm sewer and
the sanitary sewers are illegal and need to be separated. Again,
having storm water infiltrate the sanitary sewer system significantly
increases the cost to treat wastewater, thereby increasing your sanitary
sewer rates.
DMU thanks you in advance for your cooperation in helping us improve the
operational efficiencies of both the water and wastewater utilities in Denison. We pledge
to make this water meter conversion process as painless and with as
little intrusion as possible. If you have any questions about the
process or with any problems encountered during the conversion and
inspection, please contact the DMU office at 712-263-4154.
