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Bend renames Utilities to Water Services; staff recap 2024 conservation work, set 2025 priorities
Summary
City staff told the Bend Utilities Public Advisory Group that the department has rebranded as Water Services and reviewed 2024 work on turf replacement, incentive programs and outreach plans, and outlined next steps including targeted low-income outreach and a forthcoming rate study.
The City of Bend’s Utilities Department has been renamed the Water Services Department, and staff used the advisory group’s December meeting to summarize 2024 conservation work and outline priorities for 2025.
City staff said the rebrand is intended to better reflect the department’s responsibilities. “We’re no longer the utilities department. We’re now the water services department,” Lori, City of Bend, said during the meeting.
The change comes as staff described the year’s major conservation efforts, led in part by the department’s water conservation program. Dan Denning, who manages the water conservation program, reminded members that staff launched a turf-replacement pilot in summer 2024 and are now evaluating results. He said staff are also developing a communications and marketing plan to raise participation in conservation programs and to clarify program goals to the community, with work targeted for spring–summer 2025.
Staff described adjustments to incentive design made after advisory-group feedback. Denning said city staff are working to make incentives reach the “end user” of landscaping projects where possible and to introduce targeted elements this winter, including a low-income component and targeted outreach for very high water users. The conservation program will also test outreach tactics and materials with the advisory group once draft communications are available.
City staff outlined efforts to categorize commercial customers more precisely, citing plans to follow model approaches such as California’s CalWEP commercial classifications to help normalize mixed-use and complex commercial water use for better program targeting and evaluation. Staff also signaled a future water rate study, expected after the new fiscal year, and said conservation program recommendations will be coordinated with that study.
Advisory members raised the potential conflict between fire-safety landscaping guidance and waterwise landscaping. “Those two guidelines really contradict each other,” Mike (landscape architect) said, urging coordinated materials. Staff said they are pursuing coordination with partners such as OSU Extension and exploring whether grant funding can support unified Firewise/Waterwise education.
Members also recommended continued data collection—several asked for more weather and soil data to refine conservation impact estimates and to improve program targeting. Staff said they will bring draft outreach materials and program adjustments back to the group in 2025 for review.
The meeting closed with staff confirming the group’s tentative 2025 schedule and asking members for suggested topics and volunteers for focused subgroups.
Looking ahead, staff said conservation program refinement, communications rollout and the water rate study will be priorities in the coming year.
