Dear Editor,
As promised, I am happy to report that the May 2016 water bill represented the final meter upgrade fee that was attached to the water accounts to all home and business owners of the town.  This fee was implemented to supplement the town’s costs of replacing aged water meters and for the installation of radio read technology to better serve the community.  This fee, which varied by size of meter, was carried out over 12 billing cycles.  The project is being fully administered by the Department of Public Works for an overall cost savings to the townspeople of $1.5 million dollars.  At this point, all transmission modules have been fully deployed and the town is reading water usage at each account in real time which allows the department the ability to offer much better support to our customers.  In addition  to the full deployment of the radio modules, the department has also replaced over 30% of the aged meters and we expect to have all meters replaced by the end of calendar year 2017.  We have been scheduling meter replacements through neighborhood mailings and also in conjunction with our water main replacement projects.  We encourage anybody who wants their meter replaced before receipt of a letter to contact the Department of Public Works at (617) 846-1341 to set up an appointment.  Full access to the water meter is required and the replacement typically takes 30 minutes.
Sincerely,
Steven R. Calla
Director of Public Works/Water Superintendent