The Pierre City Commission approved action to replace most of the city’s water meters. The project replaces nearly 4,700 meters for residential and commercial customers.
City officials say the current water meter system is quickly becoming obsolete and they’ve replaced about 400 meters already failing in Pierre.
Brad Palmer is the City Utilities Director. He said outsourcing the installation is the most efficient option.
“It would take our entire Water Department working full-time on installations to get the work complete in a season,” said Palmer. “Kamstrup has a specialized installation team that deploys for these projects; they get in and get out.”
The project comes at a price tag of a little more than $2 million, which is covered by the water rates.
City officials say customers won’t see out-of-pocket costs for the upgrade – though they can expect the city to request access to their homes and businesses to swap out the meters. Work is expected to be done by the end of 2025.
The City of Pierre maintains more than 100 miles of water main, produces an average of 2.6 million gallons of water daily, and distributes that water to more than 13,640 customers.