Onalaska board approves change to utility leak-adjustment policy to include sewer charges

City staff presented revisions to Onalaska's utility leak adjustment policy and the board approved the changes Nov. 4.

Staff described two April 2025 billing examples showing substantial spikes in water use from leaks; under current policy the city reduces water charges by about 40% but does not apply the same adjustment to sewer, which is billed based on water use. Eric (utility staff) and Sabrina Steger said applying the adjustment to sewer charges would make the relief more meaningful to customers while retaining a financial consequence for excessive consumption; staff estimated 2–5 leak adjustments per year on average.

Board members and staff discussed operational detection capabilities. Staff said the city reads meters quarterly and performs monthly checks on MXUs; the city can download 45 days of hourly reads from meters to investigate high consumption but has not implemented systemwide instantaneous monitoring. The board approved the policy change unanimously.