The city of Plano is hiring people to check water meters manually after a problem with its electronic readers.
The city council recently approved $765,000 to hire about 20 more field technicians to monitor water meters and help calculate residents bills for the next two years.
The city purchased 87,000 automatic meters in 2019 that used to communicate water usage electronically, reducing the number of field technicians that were needed.
The devices were supposed to last for 20 years, but a battery issue in 2023 led the company that sold the city the devices to render 73,000 of the devices’ electronic transmission systems ineffective in an attempt to fix the problem.
“To complete daily operations, meters must be read manually,” the city said.
The temporary staffing will be paid for with money from Plano’s Water and Sewer Fund according to city documents.
Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News. Got a tip? Email Caroline at clove@kera.org.
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