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College Station water staff tout supply gains, conservation push as peak demand falls
Summary
City water officials reported successful operations in 2025 — including expanded well work, a groundwater-export agreement and lower per-capita demand — and outlined conservation programs and technology pilots aimed at reducing summer peaks.
Stephen Maldonado, assistant director of the City of College Station water services department, told the City Council on Jan. 22 that the department delivered more than 5 billion gallons of safe drinking water in 2025 and treated about 3.5 billion gallons of wastewater. He said the utility has preserved a superior water rating and resolved a recent groundwater-export dispute that cut proposed export volumes roughly in half while setting a phased withdrawal schedule that gives the city greater certainty for long-term planning.
Maldonado said the utility is advancing construction of wells 10, 11 and 12 to increase annual allocation, improve maximum daily production and add system redundancy. He told council the utility’s public outreach and conservation efforts have helped reduce gallons per capita per day (GPCD) to 117, below the state target of 140.
"We continue to make progress on completing wells 10, 11 and 12," Maldonado said. He added the wells are expected to boost the city’s ability to meet peak demand and improve reliability.
Jennifer Nations, the city’s water resource coordinator, walked the council through customer-facing conservation tools, including an irrigation rebate program launched in 2025 that offers a 50% credit for qualifying outdoor efficiency devices and a Brazos Valley Water Smart network of neighborhood rain gauges that sends weekly irrigation guidance during the irrigation season. Nations said reclaimed water use at Veterans Park saved about 27 million gallons of potable water last year.
"Our rebate program is seamless and paperless," Nations said. "Customers submit receipts and photos online and we apply the bill credit after verification." She encouraged residents with high bills to request an irrigation checkup.
The presentation also covered short-term operational lessons from extreme weather: during the February freeze associated with Winter Storm Yuri, flows dipped while infrastructure froze, then surged as leaks surfaced during thaw. The system’s all-time peak day came in August 2023, when the city pumped more than 27 million gallons, Maldonado said. Such spikes underscore the department’s emphasis on reducing summer outdoor demand.
Maldonado and Nations said the city is exploring advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) as a future tool to give customers near-real-time usage data and allow the utility to detect leaks more quickly; staff described AMI as costly and still in a pilot/analysis stage. On questions about how much of the city is served by the separate Wellborn Water supplier, staff estimated Welborn meters inside city limits at around 5,000 meters — roughly 5–10% of the city’s meter count, depending on the measure used.
Council members asked about timelines and budgets for the well projects; Maldonado said staff is bidding packages with the goal of staying under budget and under schedule, and that the city has a three-year permit from the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District with options to renew.
The council received the report and thanked staff for the update. The department said it will return with detailed proposals if it advances AMI or other large capital requests.
