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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Metering Proposal to BOCC 507 N. Nanum St. Suite. 102 · Ellensburg, WA 98926 T: 509.962.7515 · F: 509.962.7581 www.co.kittitas.wa.us/health/ Kittitas County Water Metering Program Vendor Recommendation Background Since June 2, 2014, mitigation is required for all new uses of ground water in Kittitas County (within the Yakima River Basin). Mitigation may include obtaining a portion of a senior (pre- 1905) water right appropriate to offset the new ground water withdrawal. Kittitas County (County) has offered water mitigation through a County-owned and operated water bank since December 2, 2015. All customers that have purchased mitigation through the Kittitas County Water Bank have been required to be metered and monitored through the Kittitas County Water Metering program and reported to Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). The Kittitas County Water Mitigation and Metering program will soon expand to read, monitor and report ALL new uses of water in Kittitas County (within the Yakima River Basin), not just the uses from the Kittitas County Water Bank. The Washington State Legislature required Ecology to implement a metering Pilot Program in 2018 for all new domestic (residential) water use in Kittitas County Washington (within the Yakima River Basin). The new legislation requires the Pilot Program to run until December 2027. This Pilot Program will be administered by Kittitas County through an Interagency Agreement between the County and Ecology. Since December 2, 2015, the homeowner has been required to pay for the meter and installation costs. Under the Pilot Project all meters will be purchased by the State and all installation costs will be paid for by the State. At the end of the Pilot Project, Ecology will make recommendations to the legislature regarding the expansion of metering to other areas of the state. Kittitas County Public Health published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for water meters, meter reading/ programming equipment and software in May of 2018 to facilitate the County’s meter reading and enforcement activities through the Kittitas County Water Metering Program and the Pilot Program. Process After reviewing the responses received from the RFP, Erin Moore and Ron Dixon (Ecology staff) scheduled and attended metering presentations with Metron Farnier, Master Meter, and Badger metering companies to understand what types of meters, meter readers, equipment, software were available and how they would accommodate our expanding program. 507 N. Nanum St. Suite. 102 · Ellensburg, WA 98926 T: 509.962.7515 · F: 509.962.7581 www.co.kittitas.wa.us/health/ During the presentations, Kittitas County staff gathered information about the types of meters, meter readers, equipment, software, software development, reporting capabilities, maintenance, installation, customer service support, annual cost, etc. It was determined that none of the software systems from the three different companies would be able ``to provide the customized data reporting that the county needs to manage a large scale metering program.” These metering vendors primarily serve large utilities with thousands of accounts and their software is designed to interface with a billing system and charge by usage as many municipal systems do. The software systems are not currently capable of setting thresholds and reporting overages, as the County needs, although there is the potential for that to be developed in the future. To potentially accommodate our needs in the meantime, each vendor instructed the County to explore the Application Programming Interface (API) to develop our own report based on the data that is entered into the system. Kittitas County explored this option and worked with the IT department and the vendors to identify the ability to customize our data. Badger Meter Company, which is the current vendor for the Kittitas County Metering Program, took the initiative to develop an API solution with our data and produced a report that will meet the County’s current needs for reporting. Staff Recommendation: Badger Meter Company After review of the information presented, Kittitas County Public Health Department recommends that the County continue to contract with General Pacific, Inc./Badger Meter for the Kittitas County Water Metering Program. Badger Meter took the initiative to create the reporting function that we need and continuing with them would eliminate the need to retrofit any of the current meters installed. Kittitas County has an established contract with General Pacific, Inc., who is a licensed distributor for Badger Meter. We’ve appreciated the willingness for these companies to work with us to identify and develop a solution for our reporting needs. There are approximately 35 meters deployed throughout the County, and to date, have not had any reported issues with the meters or endpoints. 507 N. Nanum St. Suite. 102 · Ellensburg, WA 98926 T: 509.962.7515 · F: 509.962.7581 www.co.kittitas.wa.us/health/ Meter Reading Badger Meter Company (Badger) was founded in 1905 and has earned an international reputation as an innovator in flow measurement and control products. Badger Meter Company offers an Orion Cellular Endpoint technology for meter reading that eliminates the need for fixed network infrastructure or reading collection hardware. Orion Cellular Endpoints (meter reader installed on the meter) utilize existing cellular networks to broadcast their reading data multiple times per day. The Orion technology allows Kittitas County staff to receive reads without ever leaving the office. The Cellular Endpoints can store 120 days of hourly data. These endpoints can be deployed in indoors, outdoors and in pit installations. The Orion Cellular Endpoints include:  Leak detection  Cut-wire indication  Reverse flow indication  No usage indication  Encoder error  Low battery indication  Remote programming  Remote clock synchronization  Firmware upgrades  10 year battery life Meter Equipment Badger offers a Recordall® Disc Series Meter which combines the accuracy of positive displacement meters with the reliability and economy of nutating disc technology. General Pacific, Inc. is Badger Meter Company’s licensed distributer in Washington State for the meters and has a warehouse in Fairview, Oregon. Normal order time from the Badger Meter Company factory in Wisconsin or Oklahoma is 3-4 weeks, but due to the extended life of the battery and the product shipping in “Pause” mode, Gene ral Pacific, Inc. can stock the product at the warehouse in Oregon. UPS ground could ship the product to Kittitas County in one to two working days. Software The Badger Recordall® meter and Orion Cellular Endpoint technology are part of a comprehensive system managed by Beacon Advanced Metering Analytics (Beacon). Beacon is a user-friendly, intuitive software that would allow Kittitas County to set up and manage accounts and create customizable reports utilizing the API. Beacon will host 2 years of metering 507 N. Nanum St. Suite. 102 · Ellensburg, WA 98926 T: 509.962.7515 · F: 509.962.7581 www.co.kittitas.wa.us/health/ data, with the option to upgrade to additional years of storage for additional cost. Beacon software is developed in Badger’s Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Los Gatos, California. All software upgrades for the meter readers and software are developed there. Support Badger Meter technical support is available Monday-Friday 5:00AM-3:00PM PST and also has after-hours support within a thirty minute response time. The support center is located in Milwaukie, Wisconsin. In addition, the contracted distributor, General Pacific, Inc. offers technical support Monday-Friday 7:00 AM- 5:00 PM PST. Support costs for the Orion Cellular technology and supporting Beacon software are built into a monthly fee of $.89 per month per meter. Customer Portal One attribute of Badger Meter’s system that sets them apart from th e other companies is its customer portal, Eye on Water. Customers can access their meter use information via a browser based web portal or smart phone application, using account data provided by Kittitas County. This application offers water management features including graphics showing recent usage with a comparison against average usage, usage trends, detailed charting of historical usage, leak alert function, and recommendations to conserve water. Customers would have the ability to set up a customized profile to receive personalized tips and access to a savings calculator. During our Water Metering Focus Group, one of the important notes was to have some sort of customer interface for metering data. The Eye on Water application would fulfill that request. Kittitas County would encourage all new users to utilize this feature during each new meter installation inspection. Summary To fulfill the metering requirement of the Kittitas County Water Metering Program, Kittitas County Public Health Department recommends Badger Water Meters because they offer a simple solution with advanced technology to fit the needs of the water metering program . Kittitas County has established a good working relationship with General Pacific, Inc./Badger Meters and they have made an effort to accommodate the County’s unique qualities that are not the traditional utilities that they service.