The Lycoming Water and Sewer Authority has received a $360,000 grant from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission’s (SRBC) Consumptive Use Mitigation program that will allow the authority to replace customer meters with smart meters as well as putting into the system pressure and flow monitoring devices.

“We received some money that will be extremely useful for both the Limestone system and the regional water system,” said Christine Weigle, executive director.

The infrastructure that will be put in place, Weigle said, is considered “advanced.”

“It involves information that will allow us to read meters and get meter information real time even for customer meters,” Weigle told the authority’s board at their recent monthly meeting.

“That infrastructure can go as far as doing a meter shut off remotely. That’s some pretty advanced technological stuff,” she added.

The new technology will also enable the authority to bill the Limestone water system monthly rather than quarterly cycle as it is now. This in turn will help detect leaks much earlier.

“From a water system standpoint we do tend to have customers that we don’t read their meter all the time. They can have a water leak on their side of the meter and not know about it for three months,” she said.

She reported that a bigger issue with the Limestone system has been some increases and flows over the last six or seven months which were slow until last month.

“We saw our flows go up to around 70,000 gallons a day,” Weigle said.

She noted that there had been three leak repairs at that system in the past month; one was about 15,000 gallons a day. All three leaks were on the authority’s side and not the customers.

“That equipment will be extremely helpful to us because water loss is revenue loss,” she said, referring to the advanced technology.

Following a brief presentation by a representative of the Baker Tilly accounting firm about the 2023 financial audit of the authority, the board approved the firm’s results. The authority was given an unmodified opinion which is the highest level of assurance that the audit firm can provide.

In other actions, the board approved a resolution regarding the destruction of records.

The next meeting of the board will be at 6 p.m., June 5, at their office, 380 Old Cement Road, Montoursville.