'We're preparing for the future'

Jun. 16—With an ongoing drought and water restrictions currently in place for much of California, being able to detect water losses and better serve water customers has been a high priority for many municipalities and jurisdictions in the state.

With this heightened awareness, the city of Wheatland with the help of Yuba Water Agency is installing about 1,200 new and modern water meters throughout the city that will not only do a better job of detecting water loss, but also hopefully save the city and its water customers money in the long run.

Referred to as the Wheatland Comprehensive Drinking Water Project, the first phase is the installation of system-wide water meter automation upgrades that include Advanced Metering Infrastructure that will allow remote and real-time meter reading through radio and cell signals.

The second phase will involve the rehabilitation of the "historic elevated water storage tower." This phase will remove the tower from service but "maintain its position as a historic landmark," according to officials. The second phase also includes upgrades to an aging water control system that remotely controls Wheatland's groundwater wells. Included in those upgrades will be the addition of "booster pumps to maintain adequate water pressure throughout the system."

According to Yuba Water, this $1.36 million project will benefit about 3,800 people in the city. "Half of the funding for this project is from the California Department of Water Resources' Proposition 1 Integrated Regional Water Management Program and the other half from Yuba Water," Yuba Water officials said in a statement. "In 2020, Yuba Water approved a $700,000 grant to help Wheatland secure the additional state funding."

James Goodwin, Wheatland city manager, said another big reason to install the new meters is to better prepare for what's ahead for the city.

"We're a growing community and we're preparing for the future," Goodwin said. "This project is really a key part of that."

Ray Leftwich, construction manager and supervising engineer for Coastland Civil Engineering, said about half of the new meters are currently being installed. Goodwin said the city already has replaced 300 meters.

"We'll get about half done this month and then we'll finish up probably in August when we get the final shipment in," Leftwich said on Monday during a groundbreaking ceremony in Wheatland.

Because water usage and loss can be monitored electronically through the new meters, city workers will no longer have to go door-to-door reading meters — saving both time and money, a common theme for the project.

"You'll also be able to do better customer service. Somebody calls up, 'Hey, what's going on with my water bill?' Public works staff will be able to look on a desktop and do a quick audit and go, 'Hey, what the heck is going on at two o'clock in the morning here? They're usage spikes,'" Leftwich said. "We'll be able to start identifying and triaging potential issues at the most simplest levels and just being as efficient as possible."

He said under the old system, workers would have to go out to each individual site and inspect what the issue was.

"It takes time and it takes effort, as opposed to 5 minutes of logging into the computer," Leftwich said. "Information is power. This is giving us that information and power."

Leftwich and others said while they didn't have an exact estimate on the cost savings that would occur as a result of installing the new meters, overall it will in the end actually help reduce water usage, overhead costs and ultimately customers' water bills.

"At the end of the day it's going to save the customer (money). Because the city can only charge the customer the cost of operations, that's it. The city can't make a profit by law," Leftwich said. "What this is going to do is give us more tools, give the customer more tools to monitor their own water usage and detecting and repairing leaks on their property, but it's also going to provide the city with more opportunity to identify — there's a whole lot of losses that go on. We're losing water out in the system."

Leftwich said because the new water meters will do a better job of detecting water loss, there's essentially a pass-on savings for customers. Previously, with the old meters, it was difficult to detect and measure low water flow from potential leaks. Because of the new meters, officials hope to significantly reduce those losses.

"Especially on the mechanical meters, it takes a finite amount of water to make those gears turn," Leftwich said. "You could have a leaky toilet that's fairly (minor), but over 24 hours a day is using a lot of water — it might not be registering. We will catch that (now). We will catch these more minute levels."

Goodwin echoed those benefits during the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday.

"We'll be able to detect leaks early which is a significant part of water conservation," Goodwin said. "Because right now, you can imagine, if we check a meter and then don't check it again for 30 days ... that leak can go on for a long time before it's detected."

Wheatland Mayor Rick West highlighted that the improvements made possible in Wheatland came as a result of teamwork between multiple partners.

"What a great day for Wheatland," West said. "... There's no way we could have done this without (the other partners). Collaborating with those people and working together is what makes us strong. It really is. I just think we can accomplish anything as long as we put our heads together and come up with a solution."

Yuba Water Agency Board Director Brent Hastey said Monday's groundbreaking ceremony was years in the making.

"Coordination for this project between Wheatland and the Yuba Water Agency began several years ago and included a $700,000 grant from the agency to Wheatland in 2020 to jumpstart the project. That $700,000 grant helped secure additional funding from the Department of Water Resources through the state's Prop 1 program to help realize this $1.36 million infrastructure project," Hastey said. "With California's ongoing drought, having a deeper understanding of how much water we have, how much we're using and having the power to locate and fix leaks quickly to save water is so important. Saving water, making sure we all have reliable water supply and water infrastructure, these are the foundational investments that will support healthy, thriving communities and business in Yuba County for years to come. It's also at the heart of Yuba Water Agency's mission."