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2.6K water meters installed, 9.4K more to go
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Posted on Sep 09 2005
The CNMI Water Task Force has installed 2,600 smart water meters and has 9,400 more to go to complete the metering project.
On June 10, the task force started installing the first batch of 4,000 smart meters ordered. Some 2,600 have already been installed and the remaining 1,400 will take another month to complete, according to Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente.
He added that the second batch of 8,000 meters was already on order. They will be installed within six months after delivery.
Benavente reported that the project’s benefits could now be seen even with the program only partially completed. He cited as an example the Calhoun water zone, which encompasses Navy Hill down through China Town.
“With over 1,200 customers, this zone will be fully metered by this week. Our detection teams have been going house to house alerting residents to leaks and advising them to fix leaks. Failure to fix leaks will result in discontinuation of water service. I am told that already, water levels in the reservoir, which services the area, are starting to rise,” he said.
The installation of water meters is one of the components of the initial step in the Water Task Force’s three-phase recovery program.
The task force hired World Electric & Construction Company Inc. to install the first batch of 4,000 smart meters. Managed by SSFM International, the federally funded project costs $487,415.
“The installation of smart meters is probably the most important part in our efforts to provide pressurized, 24-hour water to every home. We continue to point out that we have enough water for everybody, if everybody would just use the water that they need and not waste,” Benavente had said earlier.
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. had reported that 40 to 60 percent of water produced is lost to leaks, metering errors, and theft. Leakage in the transmission lines, distribution lines, and customers’ premises were cited as the major causes of water wastage.
According to CUC, wastage results from the customers’ lack of consciousness about water conservation.
