Mantua council approves $44,611 flow-meter purchase after water briefing

Mantua — At its March meeting, the Mantua Town Council approved an emergency purchase of a new well flow meter and heard a detailed briefing on the town’s water infrastructure and funding outlook.

The council voted to buy a heavier-duty flow meter after Public Works staff described the failure of an aging device on one of the town’s older wells and presented three vendor quotes. Marcus, the town operations representative who presented the options, said the council could choose a less expensive unit but recommended the more robust model for SCADA compatibility and future use. The council approved the Intermountain Environmental unit — identified in the meeting materials as a Gym 2600 model — for $44,611.

The procurement followed a presentation by Janelle Braithwaite of the Bridal Water Association of Utah, who told councillors that federal and state grant funds are limited and that systems receiving state or federal funding must complete an asset-management plan. "The moral to the story is the best thing you can do is just start saving now," Braithwaite said, urging incremental rate increases and the creation of reserves to cover future replacements and bond obligations.

Why it matters: The town’s average residential water bill was cited at $62.18 per month and Mantua’s median household income was given as $109,464 during the presentation; those figures were used to illustrate eligibility thresholds for some funding programs. The presenter said median- or means-tested programs look at metrics such as the area’s MAGI (Mantua’s cited MAGI was $92,000) and that, under certain programs, a community’s water bill must be below a percentage of MAGI to qualify for larger grant portions.

Council members asked for data on current well levels and usage trends before committing to longer-term rate changes. Staff committed to bringing usage and well-performance data to the next meeting and to work with the presenter on a more detailed water-rate and reserve plan. The council also discussed the possibility of an asset-management spreadsheet to inventory pipes, equipment and expected replacement schedules.

Next steps: The council directed staff to proceed with the flow-meter purchase to restore compliance and monitoring capability. Council members scheduled follow-up discussion for concrete conservation and rate options at the next meeting and set a tentative public hearing (covered in a separate agenda item) to consider revised impact-fee arrangements.