GROVELAND — Water and Sewer Department employees will start conducting their biannual water meter readings next week, but most of the town's customers likely won't see anybody walking onto their property while the work is being done.
Instead, the readings will be taken remotely by a single town employee who, because of years of upgrading the current system, won't even have to get out the car, said Tom Cusick, superintendent of the town's Water and Sewer Department.
Next week's readings will only be a test of the new system, as the official readings are not expected to happen until Sept. 13, Cusick said.
"There's always a few cycles to get the bugs out of it, so we are jumping a bit to test it," Cusick said.
For almost all of the department's 1,900 customers, a radio transmitter on the property will relay water-meter data to a receiver in a nearby car. In most cases, the car will pull up to the front of the house, stop for a moment, and then pull away once the data has been collected, Cusick said.
Three customers in the town have not been upgraded, however, and the department expects a few other homes will not properly relay data. Because of this, some customers might see municipal employees walking onto their property in the coming weeks.
Overall, though, the upgrade of the system will save the department a significant amount of time, said David Cash, an operator with the department.
"It was three guys in six weeks, but hopefully we will have one guy doing it in one day once we get the bugs out," Cash said, comparing what it took to get the job done in the past to what the new system will allow.
The system is also much safer, because employees won't be leaving their vehicle to get the readings, Cash said.
"We're not getting out, we're not falling on ice and we aren't getting bit by dogs," Cash said. "This is a great tool because it eliminates all of those things."
After a few test runs and the final wave of official meter reads, customers can expect to see their bills as early as mid-September, Cusick said.
Additionally, the system may be used between billing cycles to gauge discrepancies in the system, he said.
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