The Folsom City Council has approved a contract to begin replacing thousands of aging residential water meters throughout the city as part of an ongoing effort to modernize Folsom’s water infrastructure and improve long-term billing reliability and conservation tracking.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, city leaders unanimously approved an agreement with Ensure Utility Inc., doing business as Phoenix Water Solutions, for the Water Meter and Endpoint Replacement Project at a cost not to exceed $282,422.50. The project will be funded through the city’s Water Operating Fund.
According to city documents, the Utilities Department plans to replace approximately 2,950 smaller 5/8-inch by 3/4-inch Sensus water meters with newer city-supplied one-inch Badger water meters. The work will also include replacing associated Zenner meter endpoints, customer notification, and data collection tied to the city’s automated meter reading system.
City officials said the replacements are part of a broader effort that has been underway for several years to update water meters that are nearing the end of their service life. State law has required water meters on all new homes since 1992, while Folsom began metered billing citywide in 2013.
The city previously approved agreements with Badger Meter Inc. in 2021 for up to 2,250 one-inch water meters annually through fiscal year 2025-26 to support new residential construction and aging meter replacement needs. In 2024, the council approved an amendment allowing the city to purchase an additional 5,000 one-inch meters to accelerate proactive replacements throughout the community.
To help complete the growing number of installations while maintaining regular meter division operations, the Utilities Department issued a public request for proposals earlier this year. The city received 10 bids for the project. While DB Utility LLC initially submitted the lowest bid, city staff determined the proposal was non-responsive because the company failed to acknowledge required project addenda in its submission.
Phoenix Water Solutions was ultimately identified as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, city records show.
The city’s Water Meter Division currently maintains approximately 25,000 residential and commercial meters throughout Folsom, along with the city’s fixed-network automated meter reading system that collects usage data used for billing and water management operations.
The meter replacement project is exempt from additional environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, according to city staff.
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