Cold Lake, AB – A utilities project completed nearly two years ago is paying dividends for the City’s residents, helping catch water leaks and reducing the need for estimated bills.

Over the course of a five-year period, from 2016 to early 2021, the city worked to install wireless communication meters on all existing residential and commercial properties in the City. At the same time, new builds were required to install meters with the same technology. The meters were first read by a fleet vehicle which travelled the entire city as its regular course of business before a wireless communication system was installed that can gather data from across the city. The system can be accessed on demand by utility staff.

“This is another example of a relatively small, forward-looking project that not only saves staff time and resources, but ultimately can pay off directly for our residents as well,” Mayor Craig Copeland said. “A number of households have been warned about significant spikes in water usage that often can indicate a leak. When it’s noticed, this can help people find the cause of the increase in water usage and fix the problem, minimizing the financial impact on their utility bill.”

With the wireless system now complete, staff are able to quickly identify and repair meters that are not working properly to ensure accuracy across the system. If needed, data can also be read by the hour to identify when spikes in water usage began. This can help a property owner quickly determine the possible cause. The new system also results in far fewer estimated bills each month.

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