WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – The City of Wausau wants to replace water meters in residential areas. But for this project to be successful, the city needs funding.

The city still has $8,167,184 in ARPA funds left over from the pandemic. This money can be used for various city projects.

The Wausau City Council approved a motion Tuesday to allow Public Works to use the funds for the water meter project.

It is a project that had been in progress since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, but was halted with the outbreak of the pandemic. As a result, public services were unable to purchase additional water meters.

“This probably went on for a little over two years,” said Eric Lindman, director of public works and utilities for the city of Wausau. “So we had ordered them, but we couldn’t get them. We normally capitalize on these projects and so we borrow money every year, but since we didn’t buy them, we didn’t borrow anything.”

According to Lindman, about $2 million worth of water meters will be needed to complete the project, which will require replacing about 7,000 water meters, each costing an average of between $250 and $300.

“We do all the work in-house,” he added. “So it’s just the cost of materials. It’s a meter and a radio, and the radio sends us the consumption data.”

Lindman says the new meters will allow them to work with one system instead of the current two, so he believes it is important that this project is completed now.

“Our new meter has a lifespan of 20 years, the old meter had a lifespan of 10 years. We have to replace it every 10 years, so we now have a longer replacement period in the cycle,” said Lindman.

The city will also benefit from this project in the long term.

“Once we replace all of these meters with newer and more accurate ones, we will have a better idea of ​​how much revenue we are generating. This will help us mitigate future rate increases,” Lindman said.

According to Lindman, there is currently no intention to increase tariffs. He says that a tariff increase could be considered in 2026 or 2027 at the earliest.

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