Piedmont council votes to spend money to save money

The Piedmont city council learned Tuesday that the city is losing thousands of dollars worth of clean water each year because of overflowing holding tanks.  A report presented by the Piedmont Water, Gas and Sewer Department shows, the city is losing at least 9.5 million gallons of water each year, costing the city $17,503 a year.  Addressing the issue, the council voted to purchase  $9,895 piece of equipment that will help fix the problem.  Officials say the problem began when a device that was used to measure the amount of water in the city tanks malfunctioned. Since then, workers in the treatment plant have had to guess how much water should be pumped into the tanks, which are used to regulate water pressure and supply businesses and homes.  The result, has been that workers sometimes pump too much water into the tanks, causing them to overflow. The new equipment will keep track of the amount of water in the tanks using a wireless signal monitored by employees.