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Water department reports lower consumption, testing compliance and infrastructure work in 2024
Summary
City water staff reported reduced water use, completed lead and copper inventory and testing required by the EPA, and described meter replacements and distribution projects completed in 2024.
City water staff presented the annual water report, saying total pumping from city wells in 2024 was about 1.2 billion gallons and billable water was about 1.066 billion gallons. Staff said unaccounted-for water was a little over 33 million gallons (about 3.1 percent), down from 5 percent the prior year.
Staff reported increased meter replacement activity in 2024 (196 replacements compared with 51 the previous year), continued work on water wells and distribution repairs, and fewer main breaks overall. The department said a golf course installing its own well reduced city metered volume by roughly 21 million gallons.
Regulatory testing and compliance: water staff said the city completed the EPA-required lead and copper inventory and submitted it in October 2024. The city mailed about 1,500 letters seeking information on service-line materials; initial responses indicate only about 30 identified as copper or galvanized, with the remainder unknown. Because the city's population now exceeds 10,000, staff said the EPA required larger sample sets for testing (30 samples instead of 20) and annual follow-up letters for unknown service lines.
PFAS testing: staff reported two rounds of PFAS testing with no detections. Lead and copper testing passed for the current cycle; staff noted the EPA will change sampling protocols and increase sample volumes and that some jurisdictions that passed under prior rules may fail under the stricter future protocol.
Capital and operations work: the department replaced two blocks of 4-inch main with 8-inch pipe on Highway 75 near Outlook Apartments, installed 500 feet of 12-inch main on Industrial Road (South 27th) and added a fourth booster pump. Staff said frozen service lines and frozen meters increased in 2024 compared with 2023; call-outs for service were down from 72 in 2023 to 54 in 2024. The department said it salvaged used radio-read meters to lower replacement costs.
Staff and council discussed next steps and monitoring; no formal council action was required at this presentation.
