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Northlake finishes cellular‑meter rollout, unveils ION Water app to residents
Summary
Town staff told the council the meter conversion finished under budget at about $2.3 million and previewed the ION Water app, which about 400 residents have signed up for so far; staff said the project improved billing turnaround and leak detection.
Town staff told the NorthlakeTown Council on April 10 that the conversion of traditional water meters to cellular meters is complete and came in under the original $2.5 million budget at roughly $2.3 million, despite an expanded scope that added meters as the town grew.
John Thompson (speaker 7) said the project expanded from an initial scope of about 6,800 meters to more than 8,000 and generated an estimated $112,000 savings against the larger scope. Staff described operational gains: billing‑read and validation steps that once took about a week to 10 days can now be completed in three to four days, and Public Works can proactively address meter and leak issues before they become customer complaints.
The town also previewed the ION Water desktop and mobile app, which allows residents to view usage by minute, day, month or year; set leak alerts; and export charts or PDF reports. Thompson said roughly 400 residents had signed up at the time of the meeting and encouraged broader enrollment; sign‑up requires ZIP code, account number and an email address.
Council members asked about time‑savings quantification; staff said no formal time‑study had been done but estimated the billing process saved roughly a week of staff time and allowed reassignment of employees to other tasks. Several council members praised the transparency benefits of the town’s digital budget and utility data tools.
Staff said the leak alerts will show duration, gallons lost and timestamps when a potential leak is detected, and that the app will be promoted on an upcoming water bill. Residents with questions can use ionwater.com for help.
