Pine Cove Water District (PCWD) Board of Directors met last week with the main item a presentation from representatives of Smart Earth Technologies, (SET) the company proposing to update Pine Cove’s valves. The board unanimously approved the proposal.

The smart meters will replace the district’s 1,117 mechanical meters. Nick and Robert Gallegos of SET, based in Carlsbad, made a presentation to the board. SET produces automatic metering and shut-off valves, and the software to integrate the systems into water districts’ computer systems. The valves are made in Germany, but all electronics are “made here in the U.S., including the circuit boards. They are printed, soldered and sealed all in the U.S., so supply chain is not an issue for us.” One director later asked if “any of this is made in China?” The answer was that individual generic electronic components may be, but that everything is assembled in Georgia.

Meter reading at PCWD is currently a semimonthly job that takes two people two and a half days to complete, according to Office Manager Becky Smith. Nick described the advantages of automation: “It allows you to automatically read the meter (from the home office) and operate the valve … The software has a dash board that users log in to and configure — one just for billing, one for out in the field monitoring and surveillance.”

The valves appear on a map of the district as little circles, green for normal, red for problems. The system allows great flexibility for how unusual activity is flagged for investigation. “You can set up parameters that say ,‘Let me know and flag a read if it’s 200% over last month.’ So if a meter doesn’t read right it will turn a circle red … If you expect a lot of fluctuation you can open up that parameter so it’s not false flagging stuff. You can always take a look before sending billing out. You can also ask homeowners to let you know, if there is no one there, to flag any usage at all. That way you can catch a leak or broken pipe immediately,” said Nick.

There is a customer side, too. Customers will be able to monitor their water usage from anywhere they have access to the internet. The data is transmitted from the valves to the district office through cellular technology, but not exactly the same as we use for phones. One board member asked, “Will elevation or trees interfere with transmitting the data?” Nick answered, “We’re using cellular, but we’re using what’s called the machine grade cellular. It’s similar to the FirstNet system that first responders are using. All the cell companies have agreed with the government to provide a back channel on every cell tower. This uses a different kind of signal; not designed to send images and text messages and phone calls and voice, it’s just meant for small strings of data. Higher powered and more streamlined connection. Just because you can’t get cell reception for your phone doesn’t mean you can’t get machine grade out. They require a different FCC license. We had AT&T do a propagation study where they looked at all of your addresses. They found [a] really strong signal. They didn’t foresee any issues.”

Another director asked, “If a meter gets covered by mud like with all this rain, does it still get a read?” The answer: “At the lid we have an antenna that comes out. We have a pilot program at Lake Arrowhead. We just read this last winter through 6 feet of snow, and plows pushing up banks onto the bin lids. We were successfully reading through that. You could, if you had 3 to 4 feet of mud packed up on it, if you had a landslide you would affect the signal then, but you wouldn’t be able to manually read it by that point either.” The meters also store their readings for 120 days, so in the event of a disaster, the data would still be safe.

One director brought up the possibility of hackers gaining unauthorized access to the system. Nick answered, “That’s the beauty of cellular. Every ATM that you use is using this same machine grade cellular, it’s fully encrypted, encrypted enough to send bank data. It would require government level knowledge to hack into.”

As to the long-term reliability of the meters, SET warranties them for 20 years. The first 10 years there is a no-questions-asked replacement policy. The next 10 years there is a pro-rated discount on replacements. The batteries also are warrantied for 20 years. The city of Riverside has 80,000 of these meters. They have been in use in Germany for more 25 years, according to Nick. Employee training is included, as many refresher courses as are required, and the website has a live chat feature if users forget where to find something. The meters measure flow through ultrasound, so there are no moving parts.

Nick demonstrated what it is like to navigate a system using real time data from a Smyrna, Georgia, utility, scrubbed of some identifying information but allowing the group to see, for example, that a leak had been spotted at 2 a.m. one morning, a mismatch between input and output valves. Notes attached to a file recorded that crews sent out to look discovered that contractors were going to one of the city parks to fill up their trucks every morning at 2 a.m.

The detail recorded by each meter includes a log of automatic cleaning turns, a record of when a valve has been opened or closed and by whom, all flow data from the time of installation, alarms for tampering and backflow events, and ambient temperature. All installation and repair events are also saved for posterity. Alerts can be sent to the office or the customer in case of low temperature, unusual flow, continuous flow for customizable lengths of time, or when a target usage amount is approached. So, a user can receive an email or text if their water usage approaches a budgeted amount, if the line is likely to freeze or if their water is running for a selected amount of time.

The system also allows photos and notes to be uploaded for each meter, so a crew can note the location of a meter if it is difficult to find and photograph the installation so workers can choose their tools before leaving the office. The entire history of each meter will be available to workers through tablets or smartphone.

The SET representatives also explained that the transition to the new system will not require entering all that new information by hand. Their software has an install app that communicates with the present software, UBMax, to discover existing accounts and all their data. When each new meter is installed, the last reading is entered. The device automatically captures the new device’s serial number and the new read, and begins submitting data to the office.

Government Capital, a private firm that lends to governments and utilities, will finance the project. The projections by SET suggest savings from the beginning, at least in opportunity costs. By eliminating meter reading, PCWD is projected to save $26,000 a year. These employees can instead be repairing leaks and replacing line, so that may be an opportunity cost and not a cash flow item.

The SET audit estimates $60,000 annually from improved meter accuracy. Mechanical meters only measure flow well within a range; high flow may not register correctly, and low flow may not move the impeller that detects usage. Meters become less accurate over time, and some of the old meters, according to General Manager Jeremy Potter, “are not registering all the water they are using.”

The cost of the financing, with the valves themselves serving as collateral, will be $78,479 a year. The SET-produced audit suggests this will be balanced by savings from the first year.

In other news, budget items included interest earnings nearly double last month; the Local Area Investment Fund the district is invested in is now paying 2.05% and interest rates are climbing. Other income was 134% of December, as sold extra dirt and rocks. He also paid for materials to put a shade cover over the new vehicle maintenance pit.

Water production was up over last year; Potter attributed this to more people and also more leaks. Static Well 10 is down by 5.1 feet. The team is shutting down some wells up top to allow it to recover. The recent precipitation, although welcome, will take a while to show up in well levels, but will affect the situation in spring and summer. Much will depend on the amount of snow in the high country.

Potter recommended that Stage 2 restrictions continue. “Even with the pounding California has been receiving,” he said.

Potter gave an update on two leaks that were found and repaired. “Upon completing the survey of the distribution system, field crews found two substantial leaks: one on the highway across from Franklin Drive, that was 30 to 40 gallon per minute (GPM), and another at the end of Schaffer Drive, that was 10 to 15 GPM, actually two holes in there. We were running 100 GPM demand, now we’re down to 49, about right for this time of year.

“We listen at hydrants and valves; once you hear something in an area you close in, pinpoint it. These guys, instead of listening at each spot, were walking along the highway and could hear it through the ground. It was soaking up the hillside and going down into Buckhorn Camp and soaking up all that land and it was never seen. Who walks right there? Nobody. That was our big one. We knew it was down there. We think there’s another small one.”

A board member asked, “How old is that section of pipe?” Potter answered, “That section … is original. It feeds that one hydrant there. Since we have a bigger hydrant by Skyline and Franklin, we might be able to pull that little one out and abandon that section of pipe. It’s real old. We didn’t have to go through a bunch of hoops to fix it. We used our own guys to flag traffic. I welded it, no permitting from Caltrans. Hopefully, when we measure the new loss it will be well below 10%. There might be a little one down in the Dutch Flats area.”

The Schaffer leak was described as “a repair clamp from years before, then another repair clamp, and then two new holes in between.”

In other news, Potter described the purchase of a new work truck for $50,000. “We found and purchased a work truck for the field, a 2020 Dodge Ram 2500 4×4 diesel. We’ve already put the toolbox and [fuel] transfer tank with pump in the back of it. We put new tires on it. Had an extra radio on the shelf. We installed it. Last thing will be LED strobes on the corners to make it safe on the job site. Really nice truck. It is used; only 21,000 miles on it. Brand new ones even with yearend discounts would have put us over 60k.”

Smith is in contact with the county regarding purchasing 19 acres attached to the Idyllwild County Park. The process has been started with estimated completion in six to eight weeks. “The [Riverside County] Board of Supervisors has already approved the sale, now we are waiting on the park. It is on the agenda for their next meeting.”

There was a combined all-staff taco lunch for Fern Valley, PCWD and Idyllwild Water districts, “a chance to get together and talk, revisit the mutual agreement we’ve had all these years. Fern Valley could help Idyllwild spotting leaks,” said Potter. The event was the first time the general managers had met and talked.

One other item also was approved, resolution 576, authorizing all employees to be issued a $2,000 limit credit card. This will streamline small purchases necessary for field calls, and travel for training. Auditors apparently do not like reimbursements. Policy will be updated to include other employees, and a policy is already in place to tell them what they can and can’t use the cards for. The board’s next meeting is at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8.