The City of Castlegar's Water Meter Installation program continues to gain momentum. This year's program has encompassed South Castlegar in the areas of Kinnaird Upper and Lower Benches and Kinberrry Heights.
The City's goal is to have all residences with water meters.
Installing the meters are contractor CORIX Utilities. All residences within the City will receive a water meter and a radio reading device.
"It's going good," said councillor Kevin Chernoff. "We've been having to be a little more out there this year because we do want to complete them next year. So this year is for the South end and next year will be for the North end."
Council adopted a three-year plan in 2010. There is no cost to home owners who have the water meters installed during this time. If not, the home owner will have to pay for the installation at a later date. If no installation is undertaken, the home will remain on a flat rate, that will be significantly higher than current rates, once the Universal Metering Program is complete.
"On the bulk rate the water bill gets split up evenly between each house ," said Chernoff. "When we go to the meter rates, the household that uses less will conceivably pay less, while the house that uses more will pay more."