City Purchases New Water Meters, Contracts for Installation

At the Nov. 5 meeting, the Pierre City Commission approved action to replace most water meters in Pierre and agreed to have Kamstrup, an ultrasonic meter manufacturer, install them.

The project will replace close to 4,700 meters for residential and commercial customers in Pierre; the city expects the work to be complete by the end of 2025.

According to Brad Palmer, City Utilities Director, outsourcing the installation is the most efficient option.

"It would take our entire Water Department working full-time on installations to get the work complete in a season," said Palmer. "Kamstrup has a specialized installation team that deploys for these projects; they get in and get out."

The current water meter system used by city utility customers is quickly becoming obsolete. The city has already replaced about 400 of the old meters that had started to fail.

"The parts we need to fix them aren't available. Our only real choice is to move to a new system," said Palmer.

The purchase of the new meters and installation agreement will cost the city a little over $2 million. The cost of the meter upgrade is covered by the water rates. Customers won't see out-of-pocket costs for the meters or their installation.

"When it comes time to install, we will need to get into everyone's home or place of business to swap out the meters," Palmer said. "As we get closer to the start of that project, more information will be released."

Palmer added the new meters are very adept at tracking and finding water leaks both on the customer side and utility side.

"We are looking forward to having that advanced problem-solving technology available."

The City of Pierre maintains more than 100 miles of water main, produces an average of 2.6 million gallons of water daily, and distributes that water to more than 13,640 customers.