Company presents proposal to council last week 

 

COLUMBUS—With some of Columbus’ water meters no longer working and town employees saying they are constantly changing them out, Columbus Town Council is considering purchasing a new type of meter.  

Columbus Town Council met Thursday and heard from representatives from the company Fortiline.  

Town Manager Tim Barth said Fortiline is the company the town buys its water meters through and they wanted to present information about a new water meter that has no moving parts and should last a lot longer than the radio read meters that are not very reliable or are they lasting long.  

Columbus Public Works Director James Smith said the town currently has about 200 radio read meters that do not pick up any longer.  

Josh Allison, a meter technician specialist with Fortiline, showed council the new meters and said even if the meters fail they will be under warranty.  

“They are the most accurate, the most reliable meters you can buy today,” Allison said.  

He said the new meters will catch 15 one thousands of a gallon of water, compared to other meters, which are lucky to catch a quarter of a gallon.  

Allison said Fortiline has sold 45,000 of the new meters and there has only been five that have come back.  

“Once they go in the ground, they don’t come back up,” Allison said.  

He also said the town can use its current computers to read the meters and will not have to purchase a much hardware.  

The cost of the new meters is $6,500 for 20 meters, which includes the software, hosting and everything the town will need to read the meters.  

Councilwoman Margaret Metcalf asked how long customers have had the meters. Allison said some as long as three years. Metcalf asked if the company has had any complaints. Allison answered, “no.”  

Allison also said the meters are made in Georgia. It would cost the town $461 per year per 100 meters for the company to host the new meters.  

Columbus Mayor Eric McIntyre said the town will be starting budget meetings next month.  

“I like this idea,” McIntyre said. “I just don’t know how this would work for our budget.”  

McIntyre asked Barth to speak with three other towns who use the meters to see what they think about them.  

Smith said the town has a just over 1,000 meters in town. Columbus only has a 12-15 percent water loss, but the new meters could help cut that down even more.  

“I think in the long run, years down the road, this could be a very good idea because of the water loss,” McIntyre said. “That will add up. We will talk about it in our budget workshop to see if we want to do it or wait a year.”  

Councilman Robert Williamson said this is exciting. He said what he heard is the town can replace meters in phases and as the town has money it can add to the system. He also said he likes the idea of a 17-year battery life.