What a difference a week makes.

Last week, Slidell Mayor Ben Morris had suspended the installation of 11,000 new electronic water meters because of what he said were installation and billing problems. But after some meetings and some quick fixes, Bob Work, president of Triton Water Technologies, the company doing the water meter installation, said everything is back on schedule and work is proceeding.

Work said Thursday he had met with Morris and city department leaders Oct. 1. He said by Oct. 2 all the problems had been resolved, and the new water bills were sent out Oct. 7. Work said sending out the first bills is a major test to make sure everything is working smoothly. He said it was “impossible” to install 500 meters backwards as was alleged earlier.

“It may happen once or twice during an installation, but not 500, and the incorrect installations are quickly fixed,” Work said.

Work said the problem that arose was a matter of software and the database in the city’s computer, and that led city officials to believe the meters were installed incorrectly.

Work explained his company was given a list of water meters and readings from the city at the beginning of the project. As they proceeded to install meters, they found inconsistencies in the list, such as wrong addresses. Triton employees and Work fixed the list and presented the city with it by putting it on a special secure Web site the city uses to make out the bills. However, the corrected list did not appear on the Web site, and city workers got concerned, because there was no data for billing purposes.

Work brought in a software experts from the Mandeville-based company Langham Consulting. The computer experts were able to complete a third amended database and successfully upload it to the Web site.

During the repairs, Langham Consulting president Gary Thorson said they found only one meter had been installed backwards, and that was quickly repaired. Thorson said in projects of this size, it is not uncommon to find one or two glitches.

“The problem was resolved by Thursday, and bills went out on Tuesday,” Work said.

As for other concerns from the mayor, Work said they were easily resolved. On some of the meters, the wrong washer was installed, which led to some leakage. Work said one installer had used fiber washers instead or rubber ones. All the incorrect washers have been replaced, and Work said there was very minor leakage that occurred only on the city side of the meters, which did not affect the customers’ bills.

Fixing the database and software also fixed the problem of the computer that reads the meters not being able to talk to the city’s computer. The new water meters are equipped with radio transmitters that send out the readings to a van equipped with a computer and a radio receiver. Work said once the software problem was solved, the computers were able to communicate.

As far as he can tell, no one who has a new water meter has received an incorrect bill.

“Work is going extremely well,” Work said. “The city has been great about it, and they are wonderful to work with.”

Morris tends to agree. On Thursday, he said he was “very pleased” with Triton’s work.

“They responded very quickly. The problems are worked out, and work has resumed,” Morris said.

He said he was not blaming Triton and he expects some problems to occur on such a large project.

Work said his crews have already installed 5,500 of the 11,000 meters, and he expects the entire project to be finished in two months. He said once all the meters are installed, the city will notice a big decrease in the amount of wasted water and in theft of services, which means more revenue for the city’s coffers. Customers will be conserving water and have a more accurate water bill. The new meters are guaranteed for 10 years and have an accuracy rating of 99 percent.

“Slidell is taking advantage of a very good system,” Work said.