Largest of Du Quoin water meters costing city

It was said following Monday's city council meeting that a town's water meters are its underground cash registers, and money is being lost in the largest of the city's aging water meters. The technology built into new meters solves that.

For instance, it is now believed that the meter which tracks the flow of water sold to the Village of Dowell is off by 745,000 gallons each month. That meter is located in front of the General Cable industry south of Du Quoin.

The Du Quoin Elementary School meter is off by 43,000 gallons a month.

The Illinois Department of Corrections boot camp is getting 140,000 gallons of water more than it is paying for.

A Village of Dowell water meter that tracks usage to the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds is thought to be off by 90,000 gallons a month.

The Super Wash car wash water meter is off by an estimated 18,000 gallons a month.

All told, the meters are losing track of 4.5 million gallons of water a month. Good for big water users. Bad for the City of Du Quoin.

The information was part of a very well-done and classy big screen Power Point presentation prepared by City Clerk Andrew Croessman and Water Commissioner Gerry Whitley.

Du Quoin is currently billing for only about 76 to 80 percent of the water it buys from the Rend Lake Intercity Water District. At the outset of this investigation, the water department staff and the mayor's office felt the loss was due to an aging system of water lines. That may be some of the problem.

Now, the mayor believes that replacing these meters will improve the cityÕs water efficiency to between 85 and 86 percent.

The cost: a little over $35,000.

The city council Monday night waived the bid process, because these large meters are unique to one manufacturer.

The money will be borrowed from the remaining $50,000 in the fund used to repair the roof at city hall. The water department will pay $3,300 per month back to this fund.

Within a year, the city will capture its investment in the new meters and grow revenues $70,000 a year. In years to come, the program will be cookie-cut to begin replacement of smaller meters.