The not-so-recent news about water billing issues should not be a surprise ("Faulty water bills to yield refunds," Feb. 23). If you watch the news on a fairly frequent basis, you would have seen Baltimore's Department of Public Works addressing this. I've seen recent stories on eliminating old meters in basements and replacing them with new meters outside. DPW representatives have been on TV talking about that and the plans for new meters which will be automated and bills which we will be able to access and read on our computers. I think that will certainly be welcomed. It will take another three years or so, but this is neither a small system nor a small project.
I am a plumber, and I have seen some pretty bad water lines in my life — mainly inside of houses. The city has a lot of challenges and meter replacement is just one, and a big one at that. Think about all the mains underground that are 100 years old and breaking all the time. That also has to be a priority, and the city seems to be stepping up work on replacing those.
Baltimore has to fix the infrastructure and do the meters and fulfill all the environmental decrees at the same time, and it seems to me they are trying to accomplish this, but it will take time and a lot of money. The same can be said for the nation as a whole — that we have to invest more in our infrastructure. I think what MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakeis doing in pushing for the new meter system is right on the mark. Sure it will take a few years to complete, but it will all be worth it so we all need to be a little patient.
Thomas Lucker, Baltimore