City is having trouble with ultra-modern water meters

Houstonist doesn't know if you realized it, but Houston is trying to put itself on the cutting edge of water meter technology with meters that read themselves, sorta. Problem is, it doesn't seem to be working. As KPRC reports, the automated metering system is years behind schedule and millions over budget — and the new meter reading system has a 47 percent failure rate.

The system is based on radio transmitters that are installed on water meters, so instead of a bunch of workers manually reading each meter, a few workers can drive through neighborhoods in vans equipped with computers that pick up the radio signals. The problem is, the transmitters don't work nearly half the time, in part because they didn't do well in Houston's climate. So now, the city is going back and installing sealed transmitters that'll be protected from the elements. There was also an issue with city workers who broke the transmitters because they didn't know how to install them; we assume they've undergone some training since then.

It all adds up to a system that's now costing $25 million more than the original estimate of $50 million and probably won't be finished until 2008 — five years later than expected. And at this point, 55,000 of the transmitters aren't working and no one can figure out why.

City officials point out that the system has never been implemented in a city the size of Houston, and Houstonist understands that there will always be problems when new technology is implemented. But, like City Councilman Michael Berry said, the whole thing does kind of bring to mind the Air Force's infamous $700 toilet seat. On the other hand, the toilet seat didn't communicate with anything by radio — at least not that we know of.