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.
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nother 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.