Water Meter Replacement Project

Public Notice – Water Meter Replacement

Beginning Monday, March 3^rd,  a contractor for the Town of Orange (Fortiline) will begin the installation of new water meters throughout our entire system. They will begin in the areas of Piedmont St., Jefferson St., Williams Dr., East Main St., and Selma Rd areas. They will continue throughout our system from there, and we will update the areas as they proceed. Ahead of installation residents will find blue flags or blue paint marks identifying each meter location for the contractor.

This new system will have some of the latest technology on the market. These meters will start collecting water usage in your residence/business at 0.01 gallons. With that, most customers will see an increase in consumption of water on monthly bills (current rates will not change). These new meters are extremely accurate and will catch the smallest drips.

With the new system the Town will be able to have the ability to detect leaks daily or anything outside of normal usage. Each day, the system will report usage to Town Hall and flag any accounts that may have higher than normal usage. The Town can then let customers know there is potentially a leak or something that needs to be investigated within 24 hours of its beginning.  Instead of the previous system/process that would not find issues until the meter was read during the next read cycle.

Things you need to know:

• Over the next 4-5 months a contractor will be installing new meters throughout our entire system. You will see white trucks and contracted employees in your neighborhoods and yards. Trucks will have markings with Fortiline on them.
• During installation of the new meter, each customer can expect a brief disruption in their water service.  
• Once your meter has been replaced you find a door knocker hung on your door letting you know the installation was completed and what to expect after installation.
• It is likely that most customers will see higher than normal consumption. Some of the mechanical meters currently in our system are aged and do not collect every gallon of water used. The old system typically slowed down capture rate over time.  These higher consumptions will vary, some may only see a small increase, some could see 500-1000+ gallons more usage on bills.
• The Town will now be able to provide data to give customers a better explanation of when and how much water was used with this new system.