Crews are set to replace 750 Denton water meters with smart meters between Oct. 26 and Nov. 20, the pilot stage of a program that would eventually swap every meter in the city, according to a Water Utilities presentation prepared for the Public Utilities Board.
The board takes up the quarterly capital projects report in a work session after its regular meeting at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St. The item is a report and discussion, with no vote attached.
How the meter program works
The advanced metering infrastructure program would put a smart meter at every connection in the city, with endpoint devices that send readings over the cellular network. The old round meter boxes would give way to larger rectangular ones, and residents would get an online portal showing their usage in close to real time, the slides say.
Badger Meter is listed as the service provider at $26 million, with Black & Veatch as consultant at $614,535. A proof-of-concept round that replaced 50 meters ran Sept. 23 to Sept. 30. After the 750-meter pilot, staff plans to begin full deployment in mid-December and finish in the third quarter of 2029.
The usage portal, called Eye on Water, is slated to open to customers in early 2027.
The city applied July 30 for a state Water Supply and Infrastructure Grant and has answered two rounds of follow-up questions, the presentation says. It does not say how much the city requested.
Treatment plant work
The same report covers the Ray Roberts Water Treatment Plant, where an expansion would add 20 million gallons a day of capacity using low-pressure membrane units. Its estimated construction cost is $628 million. Construction is projected to start in the second quarter of 2027 and wrap up in the second quarter of 2032.
