Thousands In Baltimore City, County Will Get New Water Meters

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The way our water usage is measured is getting a major upgrade. Thousands of homes in Baltimore City and County are getting new water meters.

Mary Bubala has more.

The upgrade should be a better take on just how much water is coming out of our taps. Monday, Baltimore City began replacing water meters in homes that are about four decades old.

"The big change for homeowners is that the new water meters will be able to be read remotely. Workers no longer have to estimate. It will be much more accurate," said Celeste Amato, Baltimore City Public Works.

Right now, 12,000 homes are hooked up to a system that requires the city to estimate their bill based on past usage.

"Most of these are not functioning properly so unless we can get into your home or there is someone to let us in, most of these customers would be getting continuous estimated bills based on their past usage, still estimated and not an accurate read," said Amato.

Complaints from homeowners had been rolling in for years.

"One time I had renters---it could have been four people in the house and they use a lot more water---and now I have two people; they are disabled, they don't use a lot of water at all so they are getting a big bill," said homeowner Valentino Gabriele. "This will make it much better."

In the next three to five years, the entire water meter system will be automated for more than 400,000 homes at a cost of more than $130 million.

Residents will be notified of the change. They will lose water for up to an hour when the system is replaced.