A new style of water meter that can be read remotely will be coming to homes and businesses in Webster City.

The city’s share of federal COVID-19 relief dollars will help to pay for those meters.

The City Council voted unanimously on Monday to earmark about $1.4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for the meters. While the council has designated the relief money to be used for that purpose, it has not purchased any new meters yet.

What will eventually be purchased are known as advanced metering infrastructure water meters.

In a report to the council, City Manager Daniel Ortiz Hernandez described the devices as “an integrated system of equipment, communications and information management systems for utilities to remotely collect customer water usage data in near real time.”

“It has multiple potential benefits including more informed customers who would have the ability to monitor their water use in near real time, increased operational efficiency and the ability to make better data-driven decisions,” he wrote.

The federal money has to be spent by Dec. 1, 2026. A schedule for installing the new meters hasn’t been determined yet.

Similar meters are proposed for customers of the city’s municipal electric utility. The utility’s revenue will pay them.