Englewood outlines water-efficiency plan, advanced metering and metering gaps

Englewood utilities staff summarized the city's Water Efficiency Plan and recent meter upgrades, and answered commission questions about unmetered customers and water-loss measurement.

The presentation by utilities engineer Tasha Nell said the Water Efficiency Plan is the city's action plan for water conservation and efficiency; it was adopted in 2023 and ties to the City of Englewood's 2022—2025 strategic plan. The plan contains about 30 programs organized into six categories: metering and billing; water-loss control; staffing and planning; technical improvements and incentives; roles and ordinances; and customer education.

Why it matters: the plan guides investments and staffing that affect rates, infrastructure and customer outreach. Utilities staff said the city reports a yearly water-loss audit to the state and that the audit covers metered flows into the treatment plant and downstream customer meters.

Key facts and progress

- Advanced meters: staff reported that 7,080 obsolete meters had been replaced as of June as part of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) rollout. - Water loss: the most recent audit showed roughly 11% water loss; staff attributed that level partly to approximately 1,000 flat-rate (unmetered) accounts, water-main breaks and billing-system transitions. - Monitoring and software: utilities is implementing Power BI reporting tied to the new metering data. Staff said the tool can roll up usage by single-family, multi-family, commercial and parks, and could be used to track program impacts. - Customer alerts: staff said AMI should enable more timely customer-facing alerts (for example, a large unexpected usage spike), and that offering near-real-time usage visibility to customers is an anticipated benefit of AMI.

Questions from commissioners focused on the flat-rate customers and the timeline for addressing unmetered accounts. Staff said there is a code provision that requires meter installation when ownership changes (within 90 days) and that the city is discussing options for broader conversion and financing. Staff said conversion programs have been constrained at times by available funding, but new funds recently lowered the cost of meter installation in a cited example.

Implementation priorities and next steps

Staff said work over the next two years will prioritize finalizing the AMI upgrade, evaluating a block-rate structure as part of the rate study, offering limited large-customer water audits, and metering unmetered customers. Staff also highlighted ongoing distribution maintenance, valve replacement and public education using EPA WaterSense materials.

Quotes from the meeting

"Our water efficiency plan is our action plan for water conservation and efficiency. It was adopted in 2023," said utilities engineer Tasha Nell.

"We use City Ditch mainly, but we also use the South Platte River," Nell said when explaining the scope of the water-loss audit.

Next steps and context

Commissioners requested that staff return with additional details about how the 6% savings target (noted in the plan) is allocated across customer classes and with more information on financing and enforcement options for converting flat-rate accounts to metered service. Utilities staff offered to bring back further analysis and to share how the Power BI roll-up could be used for program evaluation.

The utilities presentation took place during the Sustainability Commission meeting; staff encouraged commissioners to send follow-up questions to Mel England, staff liaison.