Los Alamos staff present biannual update to water and energy conservation plan, public input slated for 2027

Abby, a county sustainability staff member, presented the Los Alamos County Water and Energy Conservation Plan biannual update during the March 20 Environmental Sustainability Board meeting, summarizing updated charts, program progress and plans for public outreach.

The update is intended to refresh consumption charts and program-tracking details and to show progress on projects and outreach since the last plan. Abby said the county will launch formal public input for the next version of the plan in 2027 and that the current update integrates many utility-related comments from the Climate Action Plan public input appendix.

The presentation covered three main parts: local condition updates (including weather data sourced from LANL’s weather station), revised consumption charts (water, gas and electricity), and a conservation program status matrix that uses color-coding to show completed, in-progress and canceled items. Abby told the board the matrix was adjusted so items with completed work are marked in green, moved or canceled items are marked with a strikethrough or red X, and that Appendix 4 documents outreach activities and education-contractor work.

Board members asked about alignment between the Water and Energy Conservation Plan and the county Climate Action Plan. Abby said she found overlap rather than conflict and noted the plan is formatted as five-year actions while the Climate Action Plan looks further ahead; she also said the update was intentionally aligned with Board of Public Utilities (BPU) goals where relevant.

Members discussed data sources and projections. Abby said population and per-capita water use figures use census-based inputs and the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research projections; she noted one housing figure in the packet had not been updated and should not be relied on. A board member raised the long-term fiscal question of lower consumption and infrastructure maintenance — whether reduced use could raise per-customer rates or require system downsizing — and Abby said finance staff are monitoring the tradeoffs but that the county, like many communities, has not yet settled on a clear system-transition path.

Board members also asked about equity and energy access. Abby said the plan touches on social-service partnerships (for example, a loanable induction cooktop through social services) and that she has been coordinating more with social services to incorporate needs into future updates. The board discussed technology options such as induction stoves with battery backup to address outage and grid-strain concerns; Abby said she is tracking those technologies and continuing outreach, including workshops and demonstrations.

The board did not take a formal vote on the plan at this meeting. Staff said they would provide the plan file link and share it via Legistar so board members and the public can access the updated document.

Looking ahead, Abby asked the board to consider serving as a platform for public-input sessions when the formal 2027 outreach begins and flagged that future iterations of the conservation plan will more closely dovetail Climate Action Plan matrix items that relate to utilities.