By Bethany Bray
A town-hired contractor is working to replace every water meter in Andover.
Over 4,000 residents and businesses have complied since the work started in July, yet some 300 homeowners have refused all of the water department's attempts to get in touch or set up an appointment for a new meter.
"We have some people that are absolutely flatly refusing to let us go in," said Jack Petkus, director of the public works department.
The mandatory program replaces water meters, some upwards of a half-century old, with modern meters that can be read remotely via a radio in a service vehicle. The new meters eliminate the need for estimated billing or for residents to read their own meters and send in a postcard.
"This will take away a lot of headaches, and make the (water billing) system a lot fairer," said Petkus. "Right now, the issue that we have is that we can't establish a good usage rate fast enough. There is a lag time when reading water meters manually, and we're looking at average usage, estimates."
The replacement must be done when a resident is home, and half-hour appointments can be set up weekdays, evenings and Saturdays.
The town is nearly halfway through replacing 9,000 total water meters, said Morris Gray Jr., water distribution and sewer collection superintendent.
The 300 residents who have not responded have received three letters from the water department, as well as door hangers placed on their homes explaining the program. In the case of rental properties, letters go to both the landlord and tenants, said Gray.
With the new meters, a water bill could decrease, said Gray, as water will be read exactly and not estimated.
Petkus said he is working on several ideas to reach nonresponders, and will bring suggestions to selectmen sometime later this winter. Possibilities include fines or sending an inflated estimated bill until residents get a new meter, he said.
"If you take the bill, and move the decimal point - that makes people wake up when they see a monster bill come in," said Petkus. "We could possibly give people that refuse a different (water) rate because we still have to manually read their meter, sending someone out there, and we should be able to recoup that cost."
Selectmen, acting as water and sewer commissioners, would have to approve any fines or other penalties.
As they age, the manually-read meters lose water revenue for the town, said Petkus.
"We're seeing some lost water out there, and we'd like to recapture that ... One of the facts of life is as water meters get old, they virtually never get old in the town's favor. They run slower, and there's more water going through the meter than is registering," he said. "Or in some cases, there may be people out there that send in cards and fudge readings."
In one case, a family of four moved into a home previously occupied by a single person, but continued to send in water estimates as if the single person were living there. When a water department employee took a final reading at the home, when the family of four was moving, they owed $6,000 in water charges.
"This went on for years. We had no way of knowing," said Petkus. "We've even had people that firmly believe they don't have to send in their postcard because they have an outdoor meter, but it's actually an electric meter (and their water meter is inside the home)."
What to do
Town-hired contractor Eastern Win Water is replace water meters neighborhood by neighborhood. Residents will be notified with a letter through U.S. Mail when their area will be addressed.
Residents can make a half-hour appointment, Monday through Saturday, by calling 1-866-983-8080.
Contact Morris Gray Jr., water distribution and sewer collection superintendent, with questions at 978-623-8350 Ext. 518 or via email at dpw-sewer@andoverma.gov.
