State water official urges Daniels to verify telemetry, separate storm-haven route for annual reporting

Brandon, a representative from the Utah Department of Natural Resources' Division of Water Rights, told the Daniel Town Council on May 5 that the town should separate Storm Haven meters from the town's municipal meters in its billing software and verify the accuracy of its telemetry system by reading three key source meters monthly.

Brandon recommended creating two reporting "routes" in the town's billing/telemetry system (one for Storm Haven meters and one for the town of Daniel) so the annual billing-and-usage summary required by state agencies can be produced without double-counting. He said the telemetry system that records gallons-per-minute is widely used and accurate when configured correctly, but that the town should benchmark telemetry outputs against direct meter readings to detect drift.

Why it matters: The data are used by several state agencies'including the Division of Water Rights, the Division of Drinking Water and the U.S. Geological Survey'to assess source adequacy, peak-day demand and storage sizing. The Division of Drinking Water requires a peak-day-demand figure (the single day with the highest inflow to the system) that the town must be able to document.

Recommendations and discussion

- Separate routes: Brandon asked the town to set two routes in Plorus/Polorus (the telemetry/billing vendor referenced in the meeting) so Storm Haven meters (meter IDs that begin with "5" in the town's numbering) can be isolated from the municipal meters.

- Monthly source reads: He asked that the town read the three source meters monthly (the well and the east and west springs) and compare those manual readings to telemetry-derived gallons-per-minute outputs. Brandon said he is not alleging inaccuracy but that a verification will show whether the telemetry is still within the historical 1% error observed when the system was installed around 2010. He added that older meters can drift with age.

- Data format: Brandon suggested it is generally more useful to report cumulative gallons (meter reading at time/date) rather than only gallons-per-minute, and the telemetry system can be configured to provide the required reporting output. He said the town's telemetry records (every five minutes converted to hourly data) can supply the peak-day calculation.

- Missing data logger at Storm Haven: Brandon noted one source meter at Storm Haven Well No. 2 lacked a data logger and recommended installing one and reading that meter monthly.

- Overflow reporting: Brandon asked the town to include its overflow meter (water returned to Daniels Creek or delivered to irrigation) in the monthly report; the transcript recorded approximately 93 acre-feet reported as overflow last year. He warned that if water is delivered to another system, both systems must be tied together in reporting.

Council questions and clarifications

Council members asked whether telemetry is used statewide and whether the Division of Drinking Water or other agencies actively monitor the town's monthly data. Brandon said he reviews the town's annual report and sends it to other agencies for their reviews; the Division of Drinking Water looks at peak-day demand and will flag sanitary surveys if concerns arise, but routine oversight is driven by the annual submissions. He described his role as helping public water systems prepare accurate reports for state reviewers.

Council members and staff discussed the practical workload of monthly manual readings versus telemetry verification. Brandon said he asked for monthly reads only of the source meters (not household meters), a task the town already performs for samples and chlorine testing several times per week.

What the town will do next

Council members asked staff to work with their telemetry/billing vendor to separate the Storm Haven route, to request a backdated extract of billing-and-usage summaries from February 2020 through 2024 once the routes are configured, and to install a missing data logger at Storm Haven Well No. 2.

Speakers cited in this summary included Brandon (Division of Water Rights) and town staff (Ryan and others). The town will follow up with the Division of Water Rights when the routes and data verification are complete.

Sources: Daniel Town Council meeting transcript, May 5, 2025.