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Time running out on blue boxes

When I’m out walking around the neighborhood, I’ve noticed most homes have a corded semi-transparent blue box attached to a post that’s set in the strip between the sidewalk and the curb. What are these blue things? Are they those “smart meters” that the tin-foil hat crowd is deathly afraid of? – Curious Sue

The blue boxes are not meters, and they’re not particularly smart. And they’re going away.

That’s what Action Line uncovered in a confidential briefing from a highly placed top-secret source, namely our good friend Steve Salka, utilities director for the city.

Many people think the blue boxes are water meters. “They are actually antennas for the water meters,” Steve pointed out.

The antennas are so-o-o-o 2009.

That’s when the city installed its AMR system, or automated meter reading.

Instead of meter-readers interloping across your property each month, the AMR system allows crews to simply drive around neighborhoods and capture water-usage data via wireless transmission.

Which seems like a fairly decent technology, until you realize it is 2017.

Eight years is an eternity in tech. In 2009, Windows 7 was the most current operating system and smartphones were a big hit, along with a new thing call apps.

So Durango’s water metering system is as current as The Black Eyed Peas singing “Boom Boom Pow.”

Ah, 2009. The best event of the year was the lavish party physicist Stephen Hawking hosted for time-travelers.

He announced the party the day after it happened. According to Hawking, no one came.

Anyway, back to today’s query, the city is raising the ante on antennas.

The problem with the current blue boxes? They’re worthless when the signal is blocked.

Think snow. We had a bunch of it this year, and it interfered with meter reading. Moreover, the AMR system is “dumb,” in that it can’t do anything but transmit data to a passing vehicle with a receiver.

Steve had been looking at alternatives and found an ideal fit from a company named Zenner.

The Zenner system has been working well for several years in Pagosa Springs, where the geography and winter weather is similar.

The power of the Zenner system is that “the boxes will talk to each other,” he said.

“What are the boxes going to talk about?” Action Line asked.

“Current events, weather, the Broncos,” he joked. “But seriously, it’s a smart network, so your usage data can be transmitted from box to box without requiring line-of-sight.”

The utilities department will work more efficiently. “The system will really cut down on windshield time,” he said. “We’ll be able to get data here in the office.”

The other big advantage is that the new system will measure water usage in tens of gallons instead of 1,000-gallon increments. “We can detect leaks or burst pipes almost instantly and get to the leak much faster and prevent a lot of damage.”

Sadly, Steve only has the budget to replace 300 antennas per year. So it will take more than two decades to update the entire AMR system, given that Durango has more than 6,500 water meters.

If only we had some time-travelers!

We could attract them to Durango by hosting a lavish party yesterday.

But you know how the city is with hosting lavish parties.

So we will just have to go with the flow.

Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you relate to comedian Steven Wright’s observation: “I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.”