The city of Bend plans to replace defective parts on nearly 4,000 water meters across the city this summer. The work is necessary for the city’s automated metering system to consistently collect water usage data from all customers.

“We need to clean it up so we have clean, complete data,” said Chris Brelje, city utilities construction supervisor.

The parts will cost up to $275,000, and the City Council voted Wednesday night to approve the purchase of the parts.

In 2003 and 2004, the city installed new Hersey brand water meters manufactured by Mueller Co. The city selected this type of meter through a competitive bidding process. Soon after they were installed, city workers realized there was a manufacturing defect in the registers for the meters, according to a city staff report.

Mueller Co. extended the initial one-year warranty on the meters, and the company provided register replacements for a majority of meters in the city. Public Works Director Paul Rheault said that by 2010, it seemed the city had replaced most of the problematic water registers. There was “a gentleman’s agreement” between city officials and Mueller Co. that the meter manufacturer had done enough to compensate for the problems, Rheault said.

“It’s been 10 years since they put those in,” Rheault said of the original defective registers. “It’s not uncommon for them to develop problems by that point.”

In 2010, the city turned its attention to implementing an automated metering system that collects data from meters and reduces the amount of time city employees must spend driving around town to check water meters. The city can now collect detailed water usage data that reveals when there is a leak or a major change in a customer’s water usage. The city also relies on the automated metering system for billing and water conservation efforts, Brelje said. There is a total of 23,000 meters in the system, and 20 to 50 fail each month. When the city audits its water usage, missing data can make it difficult to match the amount of water going into the water system with the amount it distributes to customers.

Rheault said the city will receive a discount of roughly 25 percent on the meter registers. Brelje said the registers will cost just under $70 each.

Brelje said the problem with water meters from 2003 and 2004 was that the registers were not properly sealed, so moisture can get into them and cause electrical components to malfunction. The problem registers stop sending data to the city, and city workers must drive out to the customer’s location to collect water usage information and replace the register.