City of Powell officials are considering multiple upgrades to the city’s water system — including studying the possibility of installing new “smart meters.”

Water and Wastewater Department Superintendent Ty McConnell updated the city council on the department’s plans and challenges in the coming year at the council’s Jan. 6 meeting.

McConnell is pursuing an $800 assessment to determine the costs of upgrading the city’s water meters, as well as supporting infrastructure, to new smart technology. If the council were to approve the upgrades, they would make a noticeable change on how the city bills water usage.

The improved meters have no moving parts and measure water usage with an optical sensor. The sensors are much more accurate than the current mechanical meters, which also become less accurate over time as parts wear out. The sensors are also more precise, measuring water usage in individual gallons, rather than thousands of gallons like the mechanical meters.

Besides accuracy, the meters are read wirelessly, which will eliminate the need for a water department employee reading each individual meter at residences every month.

Smart meters have a number of other features as well, McConnell told the council, including alerting the city and customers of sudden spikes in usage.

With the current meters, water customers don’t see unexpected jumps in water use that result from leaks and other problems until they get their water bill — which can be up to 45 days after a problem starts. The smart meters can potentially send email alerts to customers when increases are detected.

All the water usage can be read at a centralized location, and the system will show water usage rates by the day. This will provide more data as to when problems begin, which will help city employees assess causes of problems once they’re reported.

McConnell said the $800 assessment will determine how many towers would be needed to read the meters; that information will determine the total cost of the upgrades. He doesn’t expect to have those figures until the end of the year.

McConnell said the department is also looking at buying its own leak detection equipment. Currently the city pays contractors up to $6,000 per year for four to five days of work, which covers about one-fourth of Powell’s water system.

To buy its own equipment and pay for the training to use it, McConnell said the city would need to spend about $20,000, but staffers would then be available year-round for emergencies or routine maintenance. That would allow the department to identify smaller leaks that haven’t become full-blown water main breaks, as well as leaks on service lines going to residences.

To illustrate its value, he pointed to a major water main break in the city that occurred in the past few years. The water hit the frost level under the road and came up through the street 180 feet away from the break. This detection technology will allow city crews to locate the leak within a couple feet of the break.

He said the equipment agreement would include 10 years of software updates, maintenance and service.

McConnell explained that the city’s water infrastructure is aging, which is increasing the frequency of leaks and making their detection more of a priority.

“We’re dealing with infrastructure that’s been here 40-plus years,” he told the council.

These old pipes are cast iron and pressures on the pipes due to changes in position under the ground over all this time is causing more leaks.

“They’re all over the place,” McConnell said.

With 44 miles of old pipe in the ground, the city would need to spend over $23 million to replace it all.

“I’d write a check, but it probably wouldn’t be good for a few years,” he joked.

On average, McConnell said, the cost to replace waterline — including replacing the road that must be dug up — is about $100 per foot.

This spring, the city plans to replace 650 feet of main waterline on South Division Street, between West North Street and West Monroe. He estimates the project will cost about $72,000.

Meanwhile, in the summer months, the department will install a new curb and gutter drain line on Avenue D, at Mountain View Street, to alleviate some of the flooding that has been occurring at that location. McConnell said they’re still working up cost estimates for the work.