PENTICTON — West Bench residents might get water meters installed if the regional board goes ahead with an $894,395 upgrade.

The West Bench water system has had major upgrades over two years and water meters provide incentive and savings, chief administrative officer for the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, Bill Newell said.

Newell will explain at Thursday's district meeting there are 360 connections needing water meters. Some residences use and share water for irrigation and domestic use. Equipment will be installed just inside most of the residents' property lines to measure the usage. The equipment is expected to be in place and collecting data by late fall. The regional district will need a year's worth of information to develop a rate structure.

Board directors will also go over the process to fill the seat former chair Dan Ashton left empty after resigning recently. Ashton ran and won the Penticton MLA race on May 14.

The next chair will be appointed through a board election on July 4. Newell will call for nominations, assign scrutineers and call for votes. Each director will write down the name of their candidate and the one with the most votes wins.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @shannonquesnel1