Municipal Mini: Water Meter Program Helping Reduce Water Loss in Olds

The Town of Olds continues to make strong progress through its water meter replacement program and ongoing water system improvements. 

To date, 1,530 new water meters have been installed across the community. Phase 3 of the program is tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-June and will include the installation of an additional 1,039 meters. 

The upgraded meters are already helping improve the Town’s water system in several ways. So far, the new technology has helped identify: 

• 9 service line leaks 
• 1 watermain leak 
• 19 leaks within homes  

The new meters have also improved billing accuracy, resulting in an approximate 13.7%  increase in billed consumption. In many cases, older meters were under-reading water use as they aged. 

Water Loss Reduction 

The Town’s overall water loss percentage has also continued to improve, decreasing from 19.82% in 2025 to 14.88% so far in 2026.  

To support these improvements, crews have completed a total of 9 water system repairs so far this year as part of ongoing leak detection and repair efforts. 

These results are being achieved through a combination of: 

• proactive leak detection 
• improved system monitoring 
• targeted infrastructure repairs 
• advanced water metering technology  

Reducing water loss helps lower operating costs, conserve treated drinking water, and improve the overall reliability of the water distribution system. 

Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) Reduction