A sharp-eyed Kamloops man who wondered why a dozen new water meters would be tossed aside at a gravel pit near Lafarge has solved a City mystery.

It's the mystery of the stolen meters.

City utilities manager Mike Firlotte said Tuesday there was a break-in at a storage warehouse in Barnhartvale a few months ago. Roughly 15 meters were stolen, still in their boxes.

"We figure they took them for scrap," he said, noting the devices have brass inside.

The meters were actually for businesses, not residences, and are valued from $300 up to $1,000 each.

The Daily News was contacted by a man who sent photos of the meters, with tags and serial numbers. He checks out the side roads near the Lafarge connector from time to time and stumbled across the pile of meters in an old gravel pit.

He said he had gathered them up — about a dozen of them — to take them to the City. Some were smashed.

Firlotte said the City has the serial numbers, so they should be able to identify whether those found are the stolen meters.