Council reviews $5.6 million Amerisco proposal to replace ~6,350 water meters; no action taken

Amerisco representative Chad Knowles told Levelland officials that the company recommends a full, citywide replacement of aging water meters with an automatic metering infrastructure system that would add radios, a customer portal and GPS‑tracked meter locations, and address EPA/TCEQ pipe-material surveys required for lead and copper sampling.

Knowles, the Amerisco presenter, said the firm tested a sample of old meters under American Waterworks Association procedures and found low‑flow accuracy near 80% and an overall sample average of about 85.4% after removing meters that read zero. "Total implementation cost is roughly $5,600,000 to change all of this out," Knowles said, and Amerisco projects an additional $240,000 a year in recovered revenue plus about $124,000 a year in operational savings, for roughly $366,000 in year‑one benefits under the company’s model.

Why it matters: Amerisco told council members the city is losing measurable revenue where older mechanical meters undercount low flows, and that replacing meters and adding remote reads would both improve billing accuracy and give customers…