Streetsboro residents fight high tech water meters
Streetsboro residents are taking on city hall over their water meters, and hope the city won't retaliate by shutting off their water service.
Laura and Sam Lewis say they and about 10 other homeowners have expressed concern about the "smart meters" currently being installed across the city. Lewises have hired a lawyer, who has pledged to file an injunction should the city's law director fail to provide a response for the city.
The water to the Lewis household was to be shut off at 9 a.m. Monday since they didn't comply with a request for the meter to be changed. However, an hour before the water was shut off, their attorney, Warner Mendenhall of Akron, obtained a temporary restraining order from Judge Becky Doherty in Portage County Common Pleas Court.
And Mayor Glenn Broska is adamant that the new system won't allow an opt-out option, because doing so would require using two different systems and having staff read the meters on the old system, and "would negate any cost savings or advantage we would have."
What is a smart meter?
Broska said the meters are replacing a system last installed in the 1990s, which have moving parts that are "subject to breakdown and false reads." The old software affiliated with the system is no longer supported, which means the city would be unable to make repairs if something went wrong.
Under that system, meter readers were required to drive along each street to read the meters, not knowing if they were successful until they got back to city hall to download the information. Often, the meter readers would have to go back the next day if a reading was missed.
"With the new meters the information is sent to the gathering point and it is no longer necessary to drive around the city to read the meters," he said. "This is a very substantial cost savings. The new meters are also considerably more accurate and contain no moving parts that are subject to breakdown. They new meters are essentially just bringing us up to speed for 2024 instead of 1994."
The cost of the meter replacement is $3.1 million. Half of that money came from the American Rescue Plan Act, and the other half from the city's water capitol fund, Broska said. Of the city's 4,800 water customers, about 4,000 have had their meters switched over.
What are the concerns?
Mendenhall said the complaint he filed alleges three violations of the Ohio constitution. The first is that the meters present a violation of safety and health, because of potential health concerns from the radio waves of the meters. The second alleges that the Lewis family had "no due process" to object to the meters. The third objects to the acoustic ability of the meters.
Another hearing is set in Doherty's court on July 9.
"They can identify what appliances are on, and where people are in the house," he said.
Laura Lewis said she and her neighbors have "several legitimate concerns" about the meters, particularly the real time data they collect. The meters, she said, collect data several times a day, which could give someone with bad intentions information about when a family is home using water, and when they're not.
"They don't need all that real time data to send us a bill," she said. "With all the hacking that's going on, it's not that we think the city of Streetsboro would misuse it. But they're vulnerable to attacks."
Some others have expressed concerns about potential health risks associated with the meters, or an acoustic component that might be added in the future. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio lists a process on its website where customers can opt out of smart meters for electricity, Lewis noted, and residents are requesting the same regarding the water meters.
'Falling on deaf ears'
Lewis said she and her husband have met with Broska and their city council representative but "they're not willing to entertain the idea."
"We've had a business in Streetsboro for 25 years," she said. "We feel like we're falling on deaf ears."
Broska said when he met with Laura and Sam Lewis "they were not accepting of the information that we gave them." After the couple retained an attorney, the city's law director advised Broska not to speak with them further.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Streetsboro residents fight high tech water meters
