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New Braunfels Utilities says firm-yield planning preserves capacity through worst-case drought projection
Summary
MBU CEO Ryan Kelso told commissioners that the utility's diversified portfolio and firm-yield planning keep deliverable water ahead of worst-case demand through a 50-year horizon, citing 2025 average usage of about 17,000 acre-feet and contracted authorizations totaling 54,575 acre-feet.
Ryan Kelso, CEO of New Braunfels Utilities, presented the utility's water-resource planning to the Comal County Commissioners Court, emphasizing planning for worst-case drought scenarios.
Kelso said MBU's average yearly water use for 2025 was about 17,000 acre-feet and that the utility's total authorized contracted supply is 54,575 acre-feet. He explained MBU's approach to planning uses firm-yield analysis — the volume available in a repeat of the historic drought of record — and that modelled firm yields remain above projected worst-case demand through the 50-year planning horizon to 2075.
Kelso described MBU as a nonprofit, community-owned utility with about 43,000 water customers, 38,000 wastewater customers and 60,000 electric customers, and said the utility continues to study reuse opportunities though costs and infrastructure requirements make some options prohibitively expensive today. He said conservation and portfolio diversification are key to maintaining resilience.
Why it matters: Kelso's presentation provided county leaders with the utility's planning assumptions and the status of contracted supplies and demand projections, information county staff can use in land-use and infrastructure deliberations.
