One of Maricopa’s water utilities is beginning a meter exchange program for its customers starting the week of Jan. 23.
Global Water will be replacing old and worn out water meters across the city in an effort to not only update the system but also to provide a more user-friendly interface.
The new meters are a hybrid mechanical meter like the 12- or 13-year-old existing meters. However, the new meters will feature a more precise digital readout.
As is true with the existing system, customers will be able to track their water usage online with the new system, giving them the ability to personally monitor their consumption down to the hour.
Global Water General Manager Jon Corwin said in addition to the upgraded meters, the utility will be launching a proactive alert system through which customers will be able to sign up for text message or email alerts that notify them when they are approaching or exceeding their average consumption.
“So, say you know that you use 10,000 gallons a month,” he said. “The customer interface will allow you to go into your account and say, ‘Alert me when I have reached 10,000 gallons for my billing cycle.’”
By notifying customers when a certain amount of water has been metered, the new system will help them quickly locate and repair costly leaks they otherwise may not notice until they received their bill.
“We’re in the desert, so we’re trying to be good stewards of the finite resource we have,” Corwin said. “New meters ensure that we’re minimizing water lose.”
Global Water will begin mailing notifications to customers starting this week to provide details of the project. During the replacement process, customers will be without water for about an hour. Door-hanger notifications will also go out a few days prior to replacement to allow for rescheduling if needed.
Meter replacements are scheduled to wrap up by the end of April, Corwin said, and the new proactive alert system will likely be launched in late June or July.
![A blue square highlights the area of the proposed affordable housing development and "Restaurant Row" sitting south of city hall and the Maricopa Police Department. Preliminary architectural drawings were not yet available. [City of Maricopa]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/041724-affordable-housing-project-restaurant-row-218x150.jpg "Affordable apartments planned near ‘Restaurant Row’")
![A blue square highlights the area of the proposed affordable housing development and "Restaurant Row" sitting south of city hall and the Maricopa Police Department. Preliminary architectural drawings were not yet available. [City of Maricopa]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/041724-affordable-housing-project-restaurant-row-100x70.jpg "Affordable apartments planned near ‘Restaurant Row’")
"Door-hanger notifications will also go out a few days prior to replacement to allow for rescheduling if needed." Thats a lie. They replaced my meter with a new one already and I received no notification of any sort of the work being done. I wonder if these people who say they are paying for 'excessive' water usage have had their meters replaced yet. You know why my meter was replaced because it was reporting abnormally low amount of water usage. Like 200gal a month. So because they were losing revenue from me guess i was one of the first on the list for replacement. I want to see if they hit me with a one time massive payment for the backwater that I owe. Also who pays for the new meter? Do I through my monthly bill or does Global Water foot the bill? If I pay for it through my monthly payment does that mean I get to keep the meter when I move? So many questions so few answers. They probably should get a PR person to run a blog or something so we can get more of an idea of what goes "unseen behind the scenes."