Austin still waiting for overdue water leak report

Austin has a problem with a leaky pipe.

The city’s water utility estimates that about 21 gallons of water are lost per resident each day due to leaks and breaks in the system. Last year, that amounted to over 7 billion gallons of treated water – more than enough to fill Lady Bird Lake three times.

To curb water loss, Austin Water hired consultants Black & Veatch in 2023 to study how the city combats water loss and offer new solutions.

“We have commissioned them to review everything we do, from testing to measuring equipment to various [water] “Reading activities,” said Kevin Kluge, Austin Water Conservation Manager, last April at a meeting of the city’s Community Task Force on Integrated Water Resources Planning.

Kluge said at the time that he regretted that the report would not be ready until June, too late to be included in the updated conservation and drought management plans that were due to be presented to the city council in May.

The Conservation Plan sets year-round goals and policies to reduce water use and waste. The Drought Emergency Plan contains emergency rules that come into effect during times of drought.

The Water Task Force – an advisory body that includes experts in water conservation, engineering and law – was asked to support the water plans before the City Council voted on them.

“I think this report [Black and Veatch’s] “We will have a lot of information about what we could do and what we should prioritize,” Kluge said, “but we simply don’t have that at the moment.”

In May, the City Council adopted the new water management guidelines without the task force’s support, but with assurances from Austin Water that the utility would update its savings goals before the end of the year.

Consultants are in the dark

June passed without any news of the water loss report, and in September, task force members were told the final report might not be released until October or later.

This schedule could again deprive task force members of the opportunity to review the water loss analysis before October 8, when they could again be asked to approve updated water conservation proposals.

“Will [the consultants’ report] available before we put our stamp on it and send it to the council?” asked task force member Madelline Mathis in a recent meeting. “Because I feel like that’s important data when you’re analyzing all of this.”

Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson said she doesn’t believe the plan will be “fully finalized and ready for public distribution” until Oct. 8, but the utility will work to provide the task force with a preview beforehand.

Climate change makes fixing leaks essential

With population growth and increasing droughts caused by climate change, utilities across Texas concentrate to reduce water loss due to leaks.

In Austin, stopping leaks is an essential part of meeting the city’s water conservation goals. Under the last version of Austin’s Long-Term Water Plan, Austin Water hoped to achieve 44% of its savings goals by reducing water loss on the supply side.

Under the latest proposal, sealing leaks could be necessary to achieve 39 to 50 percent of conservation goals, depending on drought conditions.

But despite these goals, Austin appears to be losing more and more water through leaky pipes.

According to audits Austin files annually with the Texas Water Development Board, the city lost about 6.5 billion gallons of water to leaks in 2022. That number rose to 6.9 billion in 2023. The latest audit, which has not yet been reviewed by Texas Water Development Board staff, shows water loss will rise again to over 7 billion gallons in 2024.

Sarah Faust, a member of the Water Working Group, said Austin’s track record makes completing the Black & Veatch report all the more important.

“The ongoing water loss may be a major reason [earlier Austin conservation] Goals have not been met, but we do not have that information yet,” Faust wrote to KUT in response to a request for comment. “I believe the Task Force should be fully informed of the findings of the Water Loss Report and plans to address water loss over the next five years, and the report should be made available before any actions are taken under the revised Water Conservation Plan.”

From “final report” to “draft”

It is unclear what is delaying the release of Black & Veatch’s water loss report.

When asked whether the consultant had delivered the “final” report late as promised in June,, Jose Emperador, spokesman for Austin Water, said Black & Veatch submitted the “draft reports” on time.

“The teams worked together to evaluate the results and determine next steps,” he wrote.

In a follow-up email, KUT asked why the utility had stated in public documents and presentations that it expected a “final report” in June, but was now referring to the reports it received as “drafts.”

Emperador did not answer that question directly, but said the “process took longer than expected but is necessary to ensure the final product is complete and accurate.”

The utility says Black and Veatch’s final report and a plan to implement the recommendations will be released sometime in October.

This would give the city’s advisory bodies (with the exception of the water task force) time to review the proposals before the city council votes on them.

So far, it appears that the findings from Black & Veatch’s report have not changed Austin Water’s estimate of how much water could be saved by repairing pipes.

The supply-side water loss savings targets in the latest water plans are the same as those proposed earlier this year.

KUT has submitted a public information request to obtain a copy of the consultant’s report as it was submitted around the June deadline.