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Austin Water reports year-over-year rise in real water loss; outlines technical fixes and financing to accelerate service-line replacements
Summary
Staff reported a roughly 30% increase in measured real losses from 2023 to 2024 driven partly by corrected production flow measurement and municipal‑use reporting and partly by service-line failures; Austin Water described 32 Black & Veatch recommendations (11 complete, 17 in progress), AMI and data‑management upgrades, and a $45 million TWDB low-interest loan to accelerate service-line replacements.
Matt Cullen, pipeline engineering and operations support division manager for Austin Water, briefed the commission on efforts to control water loss and explained a roughly 30% increase in measured real losses from 2023 to 2024.
Cullen said two measurement corrections contributed materially to the apparent increase: improved production-flow measurement after a Black & Veatch review and corrections to municipal‑use reporting. He described the industry-standard ILI ratio (real losses divided by unavoidable real losses) and said the utility's increase stems partly from data corrections and partly from real increases in service-line losses driven by aging materials such as polybutylene and cast‑iron service lines.
The utility has implemented recommendations from a Black & Veatch review: 11 recommendations are complete or operationalized, 17 are in progress and four require prerequisite data or AMI/digital‑twin work. Cullen listed actions including expanded leak detection (citywide and targeted high‑loss areas), more frequent testing of large meters, revising flushing and firefighting volume estimates, district‑metered areas, enhanced SOPs, and hiring a full‑time water‑loss engineer.
On funding and capital work, Cullen said Austin Water has access to a $45 million low‑interest loan from the Texas Water Development Board to accelerate service‑line replacement projects, and staff is preparing projects and contracts to deploy that funding. He said replacements and other actions will take time to show measurable reductions in systemwide loss metrics but that continuing renewal work should reverse the service-line trend.
Commissioners asked detailed follow-up questions on ILI interpretation, which components drive the ratio, how meter accuracy affects apparent losses, and whether the utility can benchmark against comparable cities; staff said TWDB publishes statewide data and cautioned about accounting nuances when comparing utilities.
The commission received the briefing; no formal action was taken.
