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Cowlitz County says long‑range rollouts under way after programming errors slow water‑meter installations
Summary
Public services staff reported the county is about one‑third finished installing new drive‑by water meters, explained range limits and battery life, and described a batch of meters that were programmed incorrectly and required recalibration.
Cowlitz County public services staff said Thursday that the county is about one‑third of the way through installing new water meters and expects a full rollout in the spring, but the work has been slowed by staff shortages and a vendor programming error.
Savannah Clement, public services, told the County Commissioners that the installation crew is five people and has been affected by leaves of absence, which has slowed daily progress. “We still are about a third of the way through, for the water meter installs,” Clement said.
The new meters use a radio signal that county staff said required an FCC license for the frequency used. Clement explained the drive‑by collection system’s range “in really good conditions such as line of sight” is about a quarter‑mile, and that batteries in the meters are expected to last roughly 10 years and will need replacement. “It doesn’t charge the battery,” she said when asked whether water flow recharges the battery.
County staff also described a billing problem that followed initial meter installations. Tracy McDaniel and the water/sewer accounting team audited the first billing cycles and found that a batch of meters had been programmed with the wrong meter size setting, producing incorrect consumption records. “They were set up as half [inch] instead of three‑quarter [inch], so the consumption was completely wrong,” Clement said. Staff said the affected meters were reprogrammed and recalibrated and that corrected bills have been comparable to previous usage for most customers.
The county said staffing constraints remain the largest factor in the timeline and that the project is funded in part with ARPA dollars. No formal vote or policy change was taken during the meeting; commissioners asked questions and were updated on next steps.
County staff said they will continue installations in densely populated pilot areas such as Bridgerwood and plan to move next to Camelot. They also noted environmental factors such as extreme cold or heat can reduce battery life and that replacement planning will be needed in about a decade.
