EL water meter project halted due to licensing issue, coronavirus

Approved last spring, undertaking had started earlier this month

East Lyme — The town has halted a systemwide project to replace more than 6,000 residential water meters after officials discovered state licensing protocols were not being properly followed.

The $2.3 million project, which was approved by various town boards last spring, as well as the Department of Public Health, began this month as town-hired contractor Professional Meters Inc. started replacing outdated residential water meters with new, digital meters.

But a licensed plumber is required by the state to replace and install new water meters, as the work falls under plumbing definitions dictated in state statutes, Department of Consumer Protection spokesperson Lora Rae Anderson said Friday, and that prompted town leaders to pause the project Thursday.

Anderson said the town has been in touch with DCP about the issue and that her department, to the best of her knowledge, last dealt with a similar situation in 1993. That same year, the case went before the State’s Plumbing and Piping Work Examining Board, which determined that water meters must be replaced by licensed plumbers, she wrote by email.

According to a news release posted on the town’s website, the project was put on hold “Due to all that is happening with the coronavirus and the uncertainty of what lies ahead ... Additionally, this will allow us to resolve some work-related licensing issues that have arisen from the project.”

“We are looking into it and we are figuring that rather be in violation or do anything wrong, we just put (the project) on hold, go through it and figure out a different approach,” town municipal utility engineer Brad Kargl said Friday. “And with the coronavirus, people are calling up and asking whether a man they don’t know should really be in their home (to install the meter). There’s so much happening and we are taking a step back.”

An individual ratepayer with knowledge of licensure requirements brought the issue to light last week, said Kargl, who added that he nor anyone on the Water and Sewer Commission, which is chaired by First Selectman Mark Nickerson, knew of the requirements when passing the project last spring.

“Throughout the country, PMI has done over 1.2 million meter change outs, is working on over 20 projects throughout the U.S. right now and has never had this issue come up,” Kargl said Friday. “I’ve been in the water industry for 20 years and have never come across this. I know of many, many meter change-out projects approved and funded by the state where this has not been an issue. So I don’t quite understand.”

He added PMI has never performed a project in Connecticut.

Nickerson said Friday by phone, “We are working through it with the Department of Consumer Protection. But the Department of Public Health approved the plan.”

“The bottom line is that we are going to hold off on it anyways because of the coronavirus, and it will take several weeks to figure this out,” he said. “(PMI) is a company that does this all throughout the country.”

Professional Meters Inc., a national “mass-meter contractor,” has been using trained employees to replace the meters, but not licensed plumbers, Kargl said. It is not clear who the employees are and whether they traveled from out of state to work on the East Lyme project.

A message left with the company Friday was not immediately returned.

According to the company’s website, “PMI employs knowledgeable project managers, data managers and installers that are expertly trained in the conversion process.”

The company “carefully selects the installers, and background checks are run on all personnel. Our installers emphasize safety and efficiency throughout the process.”

“I can tell you (replacing water meters through a contractor) has been widespread industry practice (throughout the rest of the country),” Kargl said. “We’ve modeled our bid specs (for this project) on others that have already been approved by the state. Many similar projects have been installed in Connecticut for many years without the same issue.”

He added that recent work performed by nonlicensed plumbers over the past week is not the direct cause for water-discoloration issues some ratepayers have experienced after their meters were replaced.

“If a licensed plumber (replaced the meter), it would still be the same case,” he said.

“Anytime you do plumbing work, you might get brown water.”

Nickerson described the project last spring as necessary in order to replace the town’s aging water metering system. Currently, the town uses a traditional analog metering system in which utility employees must walk up to the 6,000-plus homes that use meters — many of the devices are more than 20 years old, Kargl has said — to record numbers twice yearly.

A full meter replacement has never been completed before, Kargl said last spring.

“The new metering technology ... will send water-meter readings to a central office where it can be analyzed and recorded for accurate billing purposes, bypassing the need for utility employees to manually read and record the meters,” Nickerson said in May at a Water and Sewer Commission meeting.

The new system also would allow utility payers the ability to monitor their own water usage in real time through a cellphone app or online, and homeowners, as well as the town’s utility department, to detect and address water leaks in a timely fashion.

Kargl had estimated then the project would be completed by April 2020 and would save the town money in the long run.

The project is being financed through low-interest loans dispersed through Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, as well as an additional $12.50 meter-maintenance fee charged to ratepayers twice per year to pay back the loans.

Kargl said PMI has been flexible with the town and understanding about the situation.

Though the town will pay PMI for the work already completed, Kargl said the town may need to organize its own employees to install the meters themselves with PMI employees performing the rest of the work required of the project.

“We are putting it on hold and taking a breath,” Kargl said. “We are saying, ‘OK, if this is a licensing issue, let’s figure it out.’”

“... With the coronavirus, people are calling up and asking whether a man they don’t know should really be in their home (to install the meter). There’s so much happening and we are taking a step back.” BRAD KARGL, EAST LYME MUNICIPAL UTILITY ENGINEER