ASHLAND — An emergency break of an Ashland resident’s water line in August could lead to some changes to the city’s protocol for responding to similar emergencies.
The resident, who first reached out to Ashland City Councilwoman Angela Woodward, had up to five feet of water in his basement following a water-line break.
“It was bad,” Woodward said.
When he tried to call who he thought might be able to help him, the calls went unanswered for hours, according to Woodward’s account of the situation.
Ashland Source’s efforts to speak to the resident failed, but the incident — ultimately resolved — revealed an issue officials are still working on fixing.
“We’re working on developing a new phone number to where you will actually talk to the person coming to your house to turn off the water,” said Larry Paxton, the city’s finance director, who also oversees the city’s utility billing.
Paxton said he is still working on ironing out the details, but the number will be directed to a cell phone that an on-call utility worker will use.
“When a customer calls, they will talk to a person being paid to be on call and coming to their house so there’s no miscommunications,” he said.
In the meantime, customers with issues that crop up during after hours are encouraged to call 419-281-7041, said Ashland Mayor Matt Miller.
The after-hours number can also be found on utility bills, Miller said.
Time for new water meters?
The issue also underscores the city’s effort to replace outdated water meters. The project has progressed slowly since March 2022. Since then, the city has replaced around 750 to 800 out of 8,800 meters.
The meters cost around $300 apiece. Paxton said they are powered by batteries and they record information electronically 24/7, eliminating the need to send someone to read meters.
“If something is going on with a leaky toilet or something, we get that information immediately,” Paxton said.
When the resident’s water line ruptured, the new water meter would have red-flagged the issue immediately.
“Fortunately, someone finally got in touch with the right person and one of my employees was called out, and we did turn the water off,” Paxton said of the situation in August. “We were able to help them a little bit, but at that time you’re looking at four or five feet of water.”
The city began using new water meters on houses being constructed at Arrows Landing in 2022. Paxton said the information gathered by the new water meters is “invaluable.”
Currently, the city’s utility billing office estimates a customer’s water usage based on historical usage, Paxton said. The new meters capture accounting information and stores it in the city’s billing system.
The process gives both the city and customer an accurate representation of water usage.
Paxton said homes or facilities with non-functioning water meters have been given first priority for new meters. Also, some new builds throughout the city have gotten the new units, he said.
Customers can request new water meters, he said. If there is a discrepancy in water bills, Paxton said that customer is put on a list for consideration.
Sometimes, though, frail plumbing makes switching out meters tricky, Paxton said.
“We want to replace the meters but if the plumbing is bad, last thing I want to do is break someone’s plumbing trying to replace the meter — and then I have whole different expense,” Paxton said.
Paxton said he wishes the city had the resources to replace all faulty, old water meters throughout the city. To do that, it would cost $3.5 million.
Instead, the city orders new water meters on a monthly basis in order to schedule out installations.
“That way we don’t have a whole lot of inventory sitting here. We just work through it as we can,” he said.