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Town updates water monitoring, addresses chlorine incident and meter failures
Summary
Town Administrator Aitken told the council the new SimpliSCADA monitoring system and Starlink connection are operational, staff remediated a chlorine backflow that affected West Elkhorn, and the town is replacing hundreds of faulty meters after a billing-cycle failure and an SVRA meter error.
Town Administrator Aitken reported at the Feb. 10 Star Valley Ranch Town Council work session that the town’s new SimpliSCADA cloud-based monitoring system is now fully operational and that a recently installed Starlink connection has provided higher internet speeds and reliable remote access.
Aitken said the system consolidates real-time tank-level and pump data into a single dashboard and can be accessed by staff via cellular devices. “The SimpliSCADA system is now fully operational,” Aitken said.
Aitken also described a water-safety incident in which chlorine was accidentally siphoned back into the distribution system when pumps began running, producing a noticeable taste in homes in the West Elkhorn area. Water personnel flushed fire hydrants to address the taste, and equipment has been installed to prevent the same failure from recurring.
The administrator reported ongoing problems with meter reads: more than 30 water meters failed to register during the most recent billing cycle. He said one Star Valley Ranch Homeowner Association (SVRA) meter dropped a digit and displayed an erroneous 500,000-gallon increase that caused disputes around billing. To resolve the issue, new residential meters are expected to arrive beginning March 1 in batches of about 250 and will be installed plat by plat.
Aitken described near-term field work on hardware upgrades, noting a large flow meter at Fox Run is nearly installed and a second meter is planned across from Town Hall. The council heard that wiring and minor installation tasks remain before those units are fully commissioned.
The updates come as the council prepares capital and operational budgets; council members and staff discussed the timing for meter replacements and the implications for water-fund capital spending. The council did not take formal action on these items during the work session; staff indicated follow-up and continued installations would occur in the coming weeks.
