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Ripon water meters online by next May
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When it comes to monitoring water usage, the City of Ripon can expect to be fully metered by May 1.

That’s the estimated timeline provided by Engineering Supervisor James Pease at the Ripon City Council meeting last Tuesday.

Thus far, he noted, 940 water meters have been installed to date. “Those who had their (meters) installed in October should begin getting billed in January,” Pease said.

According to www.cityofripon.com, 2,215 of the 4,322 single family residence built prior to 1992 did not have meters since they weren’t required back then. The State Legislature passed a bill in 2004 saying otherwise, making it necessary by Jan. 1, 2025 for all water suppliers to have water meters installed customer connections.

City Clerk Lisa Roos, meanwhile, introduced the Badger Water Meter online tool that allows customers to view their usage. She indicated that the online website could help folks track down anything from daily usage to leaks.

As for the recent water conservation efforts, Director of Public Works Ted Johnston was pleased with improved figures for November.

Those were numbers compared to that of 2013 at this time. He mentioned that the City dipped to 34.2 percent in usage last month after escalating figures south of the state mandate of 36 percent reduction.

“Several cities had trouble meeting reductions in October,” said Johnston, who hopes for this current trend in Ripon to continue.

For that, he credits the City for modifying the watering days to once a week. Johnston recognized the Water Conservation Coordinator and his team for getting the word out by delivering flyers to each household.

They also contacted those found to be non-compliant in their water conservation efforts, delivering 117 door hangers in which 76 contacts were made and 32 written up for penalties, Johnston noted in his report.