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Coppell unveils water-conservation dashboards and expands sprinkler evaluations for residents
Summary
City staff presented a new public water-consumption dashboard and said conservation measures and a new watering schedule reduced peak demand in 2024; a free sprinkler-system evaluation program will continue and staff will provide summary metrics to council.
Business analyst Jerry Young and Assistant Director of Public Works James Meyer presented a new water-conservation dashboard that will allow city staff and residents to monitor community-level consumption trends and violations tied to the city’s conservation plan.
Young explained the dashboard’s four interactive charts, definitions and access path: the dashboard will be available under the City of Coppell utility billing page and displays previous-day consumption by service type, historical monthly totals, five-day rolling consumption and service-type breakdowns. “We have a water conservation plan that triggers us to restrict usage for residents, businesses, and even ourselves as a city,” Young said, recounting the summer 2023 heat wave that produced many days above 100°F and pushed consumption toward the city’s Dallas Water Utility allocation.
Meyer said mandatory two-day-per-week watering (May 1–Sept. 30) and a tiered water-rate structure implemented in 2024 likely reduced peak-demand days. He told council Coppell did not reach its DWU allocation in 2024; the closest day was about 1.7 million gallons below the maximum, with only three days exceeding 16 million gallons. “We believe the new watering schedule did play a significant role in reducing that demand,” Meyer said.
The dashboard flags alleged violations as consumption above a property’s winter average on non‑watering days; staff said they are exploring adding a buffer to reduce false positives and will bring related policy language to regular session. Young and Meyer encouraged residents to sign up for the myH2O portal to monitor individual meters, set leak alerts and request free sprinkler-system evaluations; council asked staff to provide an aggregate summary of sprinkler-evaluation findings and estimated potential water savings from irrigation fixes.
Council members asked how often dashboard data refreshes; Young said the interface will refresh weekly with previous-week and historical data, while the portal provides near-real-time individual alerts. Staff said the sprinkler-evaluation vendor provides an inspection report to each homeowner and can provide citywide summaries and estimated water savings; staff agreed to supply a summary report to the council.
No ordinance or vote was required; staff will publish the dashboard and follow up with requested summaries and outreach plans.
