North County Water District officials think commercial users in a Dunkirk industrial district are getting underbilled.

Dan Pacos, chair of the water district’s board (and also Pomfret town supervisor), blamed faulty meters when he brought up the topic at the board’s November meeting.

Pacos began by mentioning that the board was asked recently how it will repay what it owes to CBI Waterworks, its billing service. “What’s choking our cash flow is the industrial district,” he said.

He explained the water district is “billing and clearing the money on residential customers.” Also, according to board member Brian Purol, tests do not indicate leaks in the water lines at Dunkirk’s industrial district.

Therefore, eyes are on old, rundown meters at businesses evidently underbilling usage.

Pacos acknowledged, “We don’t have any way of measuring total water in and out of the industrial district.” That’s because there is no master meter. Users are billed through 17 individual meters.

Purol wondered how they would pay for a master meter, noting that the last one installed by the NCWD cost some $100,000.

He suggested comparing usage with sewer outflows, stating that while a little water will get used in production, most will wind up in the sewer — so the outflow figure might fairly accurately reflect what’s going in.

Pacos said the district is working to replace the 17 meters located at individual businesses. Board member and county legislator Bob Bankoski suggested ranking the replacements in order of who uses the most water.

“There’s a lot of water we’re not billing for,” Pacos said.

Alison Vento, the NCWD’s executive director, said the district has sent specifications on new meters to Chautauqua County. The county will start to accept bids soon.

“The industrial district will be part of investigating our financial stress,” she promised.

The water district does appear to be a little less financially stressed than it has for most of its existence, which features plenty of red ink. Pacos announced earlier in the meeting that the district currently has a positive balance of about $120,000.

Fredonia Trustee Paul Wandel was a notable spectator at the meeting. Wandel advocates a plan for Fredonia to connect with the water district through a project partnering with the town of Pomfret. The village’s Board of Trustees approved the plan in September, but three village residents subsequently sued to overturn the approval, in a case still pending in state Supreme Court.