New water meters are coming to the city of Portage la Prairie. Residents have started receiving information on the new meters, and plans to install the new meters beginning mid-January. Waterworks Chair Wayne Wall says these new meters will lead to the benefit of more accurate readings, without tying up city staff.

"What these meters do is 14 times a day, for about seven milliseconds, they send out a burst of information that's collected by a tower and transmitted to city hall and is used to gauge your water bill."

Wall notes while bills go out for times a year, the city's divided into several sections meaning city staff are constantly out conducting the water readings.

"They're out pretty much constantly walking through yards in winter, summer, rain, snow, to get to where that little black device is on the outside of your house to get your reading. This eliminates the need to do that, and then these people can be better utilized somewhere else in the system."

Neptune Technology Group has been contracted by the Manitoba Water Services Board on behalf of the city, and Wall says they'll begin contacting people to set up appointments next month. He notes the installation comes at no additional cost to citizens, and the $2 million price tag is half covered by the Water Services Board.

While installation begins early next year, Wall says it will take some time to replace all meters, noting there are almost 5,000 set for replacement.