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Council reviews water‑use data, meter alerts and conservation options
Summary
Staff presented AquaTrax meter data showing many accounts exceed summer allotments, highlighted that smaller lots are disproportionately over their allotment, and described alerts, leak detection and potential conservation measures; no new penalties were adopted at the meeting.
City staff presented analysis of water usage under the tiered allotment system introduced in July 2025 and displayed samples from the AquaTrax platform.
Key figures presented: the city has roughly 2,500 accounts; the top measured user on a 0.29‑acre lot recorded about 40,000 gallons per month in peak months; many accounts exceed their allotment during June–August; smaller lots (about 0.15–0.2 acres) show higher percentages of allotment exceedance. Staff explained that the allotment is set by city code (0.58 acre‑feet per acre, equating to about 140,000 gallons per acre) and that the current billing and financial software limits programmatic options such as banking water from shoulder months into peak months.
Staff emphasized the importance of AquaTrax alerts and leak detection: customers get high‑use alerts and staff will send letters when a meter runs above sustained thresholds (for example, persistent high hourly loss), but staff acknowledged they cannot individually contact every high‑use account long term. The city will promote smart irrigation controllers and educational outreach; staff also flagged that in drought or haircut scenarios for water rights, the city may need contingency pricing or penalty tiers to discourage extreme overuse, though no measures were adopted at the meeting.
Councilmembers asked for multi‑year data to assess patterns and for staff to continue refining outreach and leak‑followup procedures. Staff said they will continue monitoring compliance rates and bring further recommendations to council as more multi‑year data accumulate.
Next steps: staff will continue monitoring, send targeted notifications per current thresholds, promote conservation measures and return with additional analysis.
