Village considers upgrades to water system and mapping

COAL GROVE — The Village of Coal Grove has water problems. Their infrastructure in the village itself, according to Village Administrator Chuck McKnight, stretches back to the WPA. These old iron pipes rust, leak and burst.

While some of the properties served by the system on the outskirts of town and into the county have modern plastic piping, the village itself is in need of an upgrade. The issues with unpaid water bills, broken pipes and leakage running up bills, and citizen complaints about water quality at the end of some lines are issues that come up at each council meeting.

So it was that a pitch for utility GIS mapping, from Mark Beatty, with Utility Technologies, LLC, turned into a full fledged discussion on updating the metering and leak detection systems in the village.

Utility Technologies software works with Apple devices, like iPhones or iPads, to allow municipalities to update their GIS system with information, or to find locations marked on a GIS, in real time while in the field. If, for instance, a leak were found and marked, coming back to it for repairs could be done with precision.

The system itself doesn’t detect leaks, it just allows villages or towns to map their waters lines so that they locate them quickly, and to mark and find locations for various purposes.

The company does also offer a device and software that can detect leaks, however. They also offer radio read digital water meters. These could save the village time in reading the old mechanical meters they currently use. Instead of getting out to physically read a meter, they could just download the info to a smart device. The meters are also more accurate, according to Beatty, detecting the small trickles that mechanical meters might not pick up if pressure wasn’t sufficient to turn the dial that operates them.

McKnight asked Beatty to schedule some time to demonstrate their products further. Council would have to consider and approve any purchases in the future, if they are deemed worthwhile to the operation of the water works.

Council also moved to enter into a second reading of ordinance 2017-12, authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Municipal Income Tax Software, for the purchase of a system to electronically manage all future tax revenue generated by the village.