Beecher Approves $36,000 Satellite Leak Detection Contract With Asterra

Beecher Village Board Meeting | May 11, 2026

Article Summary: The Beecher Village Board on Monday, May 11, 2026, unanimously approved a $36,000 contract with Asterra to provide satellite-based leak detection services, a new technology the village hopes will identify subsurface water main leaks before they surface and drive up pumping costs.

Asterra Leak Detection Key Points:

• The board accepted a $36,000 proposal from Asterra for satellite leak detection, well below the $72,000 to $108,000 range trustees had been bracing for.
• Service includes a five-person crew working on-site for a week to narrow satellite findings to within an 18-foot radius.
• Public works officials hope the system will identify “catastrophic” subsurface losses currently driving up pump-to-bill ratios.
• The board indicated the service could become a biennial rather than annual expense if results are strong.

BEECHER — The Beecher Village Board on Monday, May 11, 2026, unanimously approved a $36,000 contract with Asterra to provide satellite-based leak detection services, a tool village officials hope will dramatically reduce unaccounted-for water loss by pinpointing leaks below ground that don’t surface in visible breaks.

Trustee Erik Gardner, who chairs the Public Works Committee, introduced the motion after telling colleagues that the price came in well under expectations. “It’s uh very promising and it was we were kind of figuring that was it could be maybe two to three times more expensive than this,” Gardner said. “So it was it was pretty surprising but um pretty promising.”

The technology differs from traditional surface-leak surveys. According to the public works superintendent, who briefed the board, the Asterra satellite scan is calibrated to detect chlorinated municipal water specifically, distinguishing treated drinking water from naturally occurring sources such as rivers, streams or saltwater. The result is a system tuned to find leaks from the village’s distribution mains rather than chase false positives from surface water.

How the Service Works

Once satellite data is analyzed, Asterra deploys a five-person crew to Beecher for roughly a week. That crew uses the satellite findings to narrow each suspected leak to within an 18-foot radius, the superintendent told the board, giving village staff a tight target area for follow-up excavation. “They’ll have a fiveman crew on site as well for a week and trying to pinpoint within an 18t radius of what the satellite’s telling them,” he said. “So, kind of get us at least in a general direction of where some of the bigger leaks are below grade.”

The superintendent acknowledged the technology is unproven for Beecher’s distribution system. “It’s uh pretty sounded pretty promising,” he said. “Um it’s definitely a a new technology era that we’re, you know, trying to give it a shot.”

The Financial Case

Trustees framed the $36,000 expense as a likely cost-saver based on the village’s current pump-to-bill ratio — the gap between water pumped from village wells and water actually billed to customers. That gap represents loss, much of it presumed to be from undetected underground leaks.

“If we find something major which I’m hoping that we do,” the superintendent said, “with our pump to build ratios we’re we’re hoping to find something you know catastrophic that we’re losing all this water um so it’ll pay for itself if we do just by the cost of what you know what we’re pumping versus what we’re billing.”

Trustees also pointed to avoided wear on water-system equipment. Gardner noted the village paid roughly $60,000 last year to replace a pump at Well 5 — a cost that mounts when undetected leaks force pumps to run harder and longer than necessary. Reducing pumping volume also cuts chemical treatment costs, another trustee added during discussion.

If results justify the expense, officials indicated the service may not need to be repeated annually. “Maybe every other year we talked about just to make sure,” the superintendent said.

The motion to accept the Asterra proposal passed by a unanimous roll-call vote of trustees Gardner, Roger Stacey, Brian Diachenko, Todd Kraus, Jessica Smith and Joe Tieri.

The Asterra contract was the second public works proposal approved during the meeting. The board also accepted a proposal from Baxter & Woodman for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program assistance for 2026 in an amount not to exceed $13,900. Gardner noted village staff may be able to reduce the final cost on the stormwater contract by handling portions of the work in-house.