Town utilities staff asked the council July 21 to authorize a new contract with eSource to perform the annual leak survey and to assist with the town’s Annual Information Report to the state comptroller.

Mike (utilities staff) told the council that after eSource’s prior leak survey and the subsequent repairs, the town’s measured water loss fell from about 29–30% to roughly 15%. “What that does…is basically saving the plant from producing about 2 and a half million gallons a day,” Mike said. He added that the state comptroller’s calculation uses a different formula (revenue-based) and that Smyrna remains below the comptroller’s 40% threshold.

Why it matters: reducing distribution losses delays demand on treatment capacity, produces operating savings and affects compliance reporting. Staff said the contract and the annual report work are budgeted for the year and that eSource helped with the prior year’s Annual Information Report.

Discussion and clarifications:
- Program impact: Mike credited the leak survey and repairs with a near-halving of system losses and projected further reductions this year as more repairs are completed.
- Comptroller reporting: staff noted the comptroller’s metric for allowable loss uses sold vs. purchased water and differs from a simple volume-loss calculation; Smyrna remains under the comptroller threshold.
- Contract scope: eSource will perform leak survey work and assist in filling out the Annual Information Report on the state portal; staff said up to four survey runs are available under contract.

Actions and next steps: the item was presented for inclusion on the consent agenda; staff said the work is budgeted and recommended renewing eSource for the coming year. The transcript does not show a final vote.

Clarifying details: staff said the previous loss rate of ~29–30% was reduced to ~15% after survey-driven repairs and that this translates to an estimated 2.5 million gallons/day not produced by the plant. The Annual Information Report is submitted via the state comptroller portal.