Preliminary Groundwork for Future Water Meters Disrupts the Lives of Some Residences in Ridgemont

Bellingham is taking steps toward becoming a more water conscious city by installing water meters throughout the entire city by 2017.

Ridgemont neighborhood in the Samish area has already started laying the groundwork for these future water saving devices. However, many Ridgemont residents were left a little perturbed after Public Works failed to inform them about the work they would be doing which started at the beginning of May and lasted for a few weeks.

Tension Between Workers and Residences

Terry Fahlstrom, a Public Works Operations Department employee, said workers chose to begin positioning the foundation for future metering in the Ridgemont neighborhood because it’s one of the city’s biggest trouble spots. Fahlstrom said that the confrontation, between Public Works and residences, is something he does not even like to even think about.

“It was just something we had to deal with that caused a ruckus,” Fahlstrom said. It was really uncalled for. We were just going about business as usual.”

No Water, No Party

However, business as usual that day included putting a halt on a neighborhood Mom’s Club party. Originally, the party was supposed to take place at one woman’s home but the party had to move elsewhere after Public Works shut off her water in the middle of the day and ended up accidently severing her cable.

Emily Pacheco, close family friend and neighbor to the woman, said that her friend was pretty distraught and that Public Works could’ve avoided the whole incident.

“They didn’t take the initiative to make sure people knew about it,” Pacheco said. “It could’ve easily been circumvented. We had no blanket notification.”

Issue Mended

The problem was a slight bump in the road for Public Works but it has since then been alleviated and everything is back on course. Public Works is making the effort to make sure that all residents are notified in advance before they begin digging any holes and shutting off water. . Every resident in Bellingham will eventually have to be on a metered water system and Public Works pre installation work will make it possible to put in meters in a more efficient manner when the time comes or perhaps even before then for those who want to get a head start.

To inquire about water meters, call 360.778.7700 or visit this website.

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