[00:00:03]
UM, JENNIFER WALKER, THE CHAIR IS NOT ABLE TO BE HERE TODAY, SO AS THE VICE CHAIR, I GET TO STEP UP TO MY, UH, MY, UH, DUTIES.
[CALL TO ORDER]
THE MEETING TO ORDER AT 12:02 PM AND WE DO HAVE A QUORUM.UM, DO WE, I FORGET, DID WE DO ROLL? YOU JUST, YOU JUST LOGGED? HMM.
YOU CAN SEE WHO EVERYBODY'S THERE.
UM, DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMUNICATION? NO PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.
I'M JUST GONNA SLIP SOMETHING IN BEFORE THE
[Additional Item]
MINUTES HERE.WE'VE GOT, UM, UM, A, UM, WHAT IS IT? EX-OFFICIO MEMBER WHO WANTS TO INTRODUCE THEIR REPLACEMENT? SO, CHASE, UH, FLO IS YOURS.
SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE A BIG DEAL OR ANYTHING, BUT, UM, AND BEFORE I DISAPPEARED I WANTED TO, UH, LET Y'ALL KNOW THAT, UM, LEXI HUDSON WILL BE EX OFFICIO FROM THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT OR AUSTIN HOUSING NOW.
SO, UM, LEXI'S HERE AND, UH, WILL BE A RESOURCE FOR, UM, WHERE THE WATER FORWARD, UH, PLANNING EFFORTS INTERSECT WITH HOUSING AND, UM, WILL BE AS AVAILABLE AS, UM, YOU KNOW, I'VE TRIED TO BE, BUT UH, I KNOW I HAVEN'T BEEN AS SUPER VOCAL, BUT, UM, ALWAYS HERE AS A RESOURCE.
SO, UH, THANKS FOR, UH, THANKS FOR THE WORK THAT Y'ALL DO, AND I'LL LET LEXI INTRODUCE HERSELF IF SHE'D LIKE TO.
I GUESS I'LL INTRODUCE MYSELF REAL QUICK.
FAIRLY NEW TO AUSTIN HOUSING, BUT I'VE GOT, UM, A BACHELOR'S IN A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND IN GEOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, AND HAVE KIND OF SHIFTED TO SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PLANNING AND HOUSING.
SO I'M VERY EXCITED TO BE JOINING.
UM, AND I'M EXCITED TO, TO SEE WHAT IT'S ABOUT.
WELL, THANK YOU CHASE FOR, FOR PASSING THE TORCH SO WE CAN, UH, SEE WHO'S REPLACING YOU AND LEXI FOR YOUR INTRODUCTION.
UM, ALSO WE HAVE A, A NEW MEMBER, UM, LEAH MARTINSON, AND I'LL PUT HER ON THE SPOT JUST TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HERSELF.
YEAH, DO, DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WATER? A LITTLE.
UM, YEAH, I'M EXCITED TO BE HERE.
I'M AN ATTORNEY BY TRAINING, MOVED DOWN TO TEXAS ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO.
UM, PRACTICED WATER LAW IN COLORADO AND THEN MOVING HERE, GOT INVOLVED IN GROUNDWATER POLICY, RAN THE TEXAS ALLIANCE OF GROUNDWATER DISTRICTS FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS, AND HAVE BEEN CONSULTING IN GROUNDWATER POLICY SINCE THEN FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS.
AND I WAS EXCITED TO, UH, SEE THAT THERE WAS AN OPENING OPENING ON THIS GROUP.
AND I THREW MY NAME IN THE HAT AND WAS HAPPY TO GET APPOINTED.
SO I'M EXCITED TO JOIN AND CONTRIBUTE HOW I CAN.
WELL, WELCOME, WELCOME TO THE GROUP.
AND, UM, AND, AND LEAH IS, UM, ESSENTIALLY REPLACING VANESSA PUG WILLIAMS. I DON'T THINK, I DON'T KNOW IF SHE WAS STILL ON OUR MEMBERSHIP LIST LAST TIME OR NOT, BUT, BUT FULFILLING THAT ROLE.
[APPROVAL OF MINUTES]
NEXT STEP IS APPROVAL OF MINUTES.DO I HEAR A MOTION TO APPROVE MINUTES OR ANY REQUEST FOR CHANGES? MOVE TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING.
I, UH, HERE BY PAUL HA SECONDED.
[2. Staff briefing regarding Lower Colorado River and Highland Lakes water supply conditions. Presentation by Emily Rafferty, Program Manager, Austin Water.]
MOVE ON TO STAFF BRIEFINGS.AND FIRST STEP IS PRESENTATION BY EMILY STAFF BRIEFING REGARDING LOWER COLORADO RIVER AND HIGHLAND LAKES WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS.
HELLO, EMILY RAFFERTY WITH AUSTIN WATER.
I'M GONNA GIVE Y'ALL THE UPDATE ON THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER AND HIGHLAND LAKES WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS TODAY.
I'LL TRY TO RUN THROUGH IT 'CAUSE WE'VE GOT A LOT TO COVER.
SO THIS GRAPH IS SHOWING, UM, INFLOWS INTO THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
SO FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, THE LEFT LIGHT BLUE BAR IS SHOWING THE AVERAGE INFLOWS FROM 1942 TO PRESENT DAY.
THE NAVY BLUE BAR IS SHOWING AVERAGE INFLOWS FROM 2008 TO 2015.
OUR DROUGHT OF RECORD, THE GREEN BAR, IS SHOWING OUR INFLOWS IN 2024.
AND THEN THE PURPLE IS SHOWING INFLOWS IN 2025.
AND AS Y'ALL CAN SEE, IN OCTOBER, WE HAD REALLY LOW INFLOWS, ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO OUR AVERAGE.
USUALLY OCTOBER IS A FAIRLY WET MONTH, BUT NOT THIS YEAR.
BUT IN NOVEMBER WE DID HAVE INFLOWS THAT WERE COMPARABLE TO OUR AVERAGE
[00:05:01]
INFLOWS.OKAY, SO THIS IS SHOWING, UM, COMBINED STORAGE OF LAKE BUCHANAN AND TRAVIS FROM 2005 TO DECEMBER 1ST.
SO AS Y'ALL CAN SEE TOWARDS THE END WE HAD THAT, UM, SHARP INCLINE IN STORAGE FROM THE SUMMER FLOODS, AND THEN IT WAS A PRETTY SHARP DECLINE AFTER THAT.
UM, BUT THEN YOU CAN KIND OF SEE IT'S LIKE A LITTLE BIT BOLDER AND KIND OF GOING UP A LITTLE BIT TOWARDS THE VERY END.
AND THAT KINDA SHOWS, UM, SOME OF THAT, THOSE INFLOWS FROM NOVEMBER.
AND OUR CURRENT STORAGE IS 1.75 MILLION ACRE FEET.
OKAY, SO THIS IS US DROUGHT MONITOR'S MAP OF TEXAS SHOWING DROUGHT INTENSITY.
SO TRAVIS COUNTY IS BOLDED AND YOU CAN SEE IN THE WEST, LIKE THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF TRAVIS COUNTY IN THAT TAN COLOR IS SHOWING THAT IT'S IN A MODERATE DROUGHT.
AND THEN THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF TRAVIS COUNTY IS IN SEVERE DROUGHT IN THAT ORANGE.
SO THIS IS NOAH'S THREE MONTH OUTLOOK FOR JANUARY THROUGH MARCH, AND IT'S SHOWING THAT TEMPERATURE IS PROJECTED TO BE ABOVE NORMAL IN OUR AREA, AND PRECIPITATION IS PROJECTED TO BE BELOW NORMAL.
SO THIS IS NOAH'S EL NINO FORECAST.
UM, IF YOU LOOK AT THE GRAPH, YOU CAN SEE THE BLUE BARS ARE REALLY HIGH.
AND THAT IS SHOWING THAT LA NINA CONDITIONS ARE CURRENTLY PRESENT AND THEY'RE FAVORED TO PERSIST THROUGH WINTER.
AND THAT USUALLY MEANS FOR TEXAS A DRIER, UM, HOTTER, WARMER WINTER.
AND THEN AS YOU CAN SEE, AS THE GRAPH PROGRESSES IN TIME, UM, THOSE GRAY BARS ARE STARTING TO GET BIGGER.
SO THAT'S, UM, THE POSSIBILITY OF NEUTRAL CONDITIONS.
SO A TRANSITION TO ENSO NEUTRAL IS LIKELY IN FEBRUARY THROUGH MARCH OF 2026.
AND THEN YOU CAN KIND OF SEE LIKE WAY OUT IN SUMMER, UM, EL NINO CONDITIONS ARE KIND OF RISING.
WE'LL SEE IF THAT STICKS, BUT IT WOULD BE GOOD IF IT DID.
'CAUSE THAT USUALLY MEANS ABOVE AVERAGE RAINFALL IN TEXAS.
SO THIS IS RA'S, UM, COMBINED STORAGE PROJECTIONS FOR LAKES BUCHANAN AND TRAVIS.
AND THE BLUE LINE IS SHOWING HISTORIC STORAGE.
AND THEN THERE'S THAT YELLOW LINE AND EVERYTHING TO THE RIGHT OF THAT ARE THE PROJECTIONS.
AND THE MOST NOTABLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS DECEMBER PROJECTION AND THE NOVEMBER ONE IS THAT THE MEDIAN LINE, SO THAT DASHED BLUE LINE IN THE MIDDLE IS NOW FLAT, WHEREAS IN NOVEMBER, THAT WAS GOING DOWN AND THE WET LINE NOW.
SO THAT GREEN DASH LINE IS NOW ASCENDING, UM, WHERE THAT ONE WAS FLAT IN NOVEMBER.
SO IT'S LOOKING A LITTLE MORE OPTIMISTIC, UM, DUE TO THAT WIDESPREAD RAIN IN NOVEMBER.
AND THEN JUST TO NOTE HERE, UM, INTERRUPTIBLE STORED WATER WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 2026, SO IT'LL BE THE FIRST TIME THE INTERRUPTIBLE STORED WATER WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THE NON GARWOOD AGRICULTURE OPERATION SINCE THE LATE 2022.
AND THAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THE MARCH 1ST EVALUATION DATE, WHICH IS SHOWN IN THIS GRAPH, THAT GRAY BAR.
AND THAT'S INCLUDED IN THESE DEMAND PROJECTIONS, UM, THAT LCRA USES TO CREATE THIS PROJECTION.
SO ANY QUESTIONS, ANY QUESTIONS FOR EMILY? ALSO NOTE SARAH'S HERE.
YEAH, AND I THINK PERRY JOINED ONLINE TOO.
OH, DID PERRY JOIN TOO? MM-HMM
ANY QUESTIONS FOR EMILY? I SEE PERRY REACHIN.
I DUNNO IF THAT'S A DORITO CHIP OR HE HAS A QUESTION.
[3. Staff briefing regarding Q3 Water Management Strategy Implementation Report. Presentation by Kevin Kluge, Water Conservation Division Manager, Austin Water. ]
STAFF BREEDING BLAH, STAFF RE BLAH, STAFF BRIEFING.UM, I WAS GONNA SAY STAFF BREEDING, BUT THAT'S, THAT'S PROBABLY NOT ADVISABLE.
GOOD AFTERNOON TASK FORCE MEMBERS.
I'M THE WATER CONSERVATION DIVISION MANAGER AT AUSTIN WATER.
AND THIS IS A BRIEFING ON THE THIRD QUARTER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER FORWARD AND THE WATER CONSERVATION PLAN.
[00:10:01]
NEXT SLIDE.IN TERMS OF THE CONTENTS, IT IS SIMILAR TO THE FIRST TWO IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS.
THE THIRD QUARTER, AS YOU MAY RECALL, WHICH WAS JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST, UM, WAS REALLY KIND OF A TURNING POINT IN THE YEAR IN TERMS OF WATER.
UH, AT THE END OF JUNE, WE ARE LOOKING AT A VERY HOT AND DRY SUMMER.
WE ARE LOOKING AT ABOUT 50% STORAGE IN THE RESERVOIRS.
UH, AND THEN IT ALL CHANGED AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF Q3.
SO IT'S BEEN KIND OF A, A STRANGE, UM, QUARTER IN TERMS OF ALL THE RAIN, RAIN THAT WE RECEIVED AND ALL THE STORAGE THAT WE RECEIVED.
UH, AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE QUARTER, I HAD MENTIONED THAT THIS Q3 REPORT IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS TWO ONES IN TERMS OF CONTENTS.
ONE THING THAT WE DID CHANGE IN THIS, UH, QUARTER THREE REPORT, UH, WAS AN IDEA THAT, THAT SARAH BROUGHT UP AT THE END OF THE LAST MEETING, WHICH WAS A GREAT MEETING.
UM, AND HER, HER SUGGESTION WAS THAT WHILE WE ARE VERY INVOLVED IN THESE IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS AND THE PLANS AND SO FORTH, UM, NOT EVERYONE IS QUITE AS, UH, INVOLVED AND FOCUSED ON THESE THINGS.
AND SOMEONE READING THIS IMPLEMENTATION REPORT MAY NOT REALLY BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WE'RE IMPLEMENTING, UH, WHICH I THINK WAS A GOOD POINT,
SO THIS NEW IMPLEMENTATION REPORT INCLUDES, UM, FOR INSTANCE, THIS FIRST PARAGRAPH, JUST SOME BRIEF DESCRIPTION ON WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO IMPLEMENT.
AND AS WE GO FORWARD INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION REPORT, WE'RE, I'VE TRIED TO INCLUDE, UH, CITATIONS IN SOME OF THE SLIDES AND LINKS TO THE WATER FLOOR PLAN AND THE WATER CONSERVATION PLAN.
SO AS SOMEONE SEES THOSE, THOSE INDIVIDUAL SLIDES, THEY CAN REFER BACK TO THE PLANS AND KNOW WHY WE'RE DOING THAT.
AND AS I MENTIONED FURTHER DOWN ON THE SUMMARY SLIDE, I JUST MENTIONED THAT THE BIG CHANGE THAT HAPPENED AT THE BEGINNING OF JULY.
SO WE'LL PROCEED THROUGH THE DIFFERENT UPDATES FOR THE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS. THE FIRST ONE IS THE WATER CONSERVATION UPDATES.
AND I'LL AS, AS IN PREVIOUS TIMES, I'LL GO THROUGH THESE.
I'M NOT GONNA HIT EVERY BULLET OR DISCUSS EVERY BULLET KIND OF HITTING THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THESE SLIDES.
BUT IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RAISE YOUR HAND OR, OR SHOUT OUT, UM, OR GET OUR ATTENTION, UH, AND ASK ANY QUESTIONS.
AND WE'RE ALSO CERTAINLY HAPPY TO GO BACK IN THE SLIDESHOW AT THE END IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
IN TERMS OF WATER CONSERVATION, SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS, FIRST OF ALL, IS A NEW COMMUNITY OUTREACH GRANT PROGRAM THAT WAS STARTED AT THE VERY END OF, OF Q3.
AND YOU SEE THAT WE'RE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS NOW OCTOBER 15TH AND NOVEMBER 30TH.
UH, WE'VE RECEIVED THREE APPLICATIONS.
WE'VE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE UNTIL DECEMBER 15TH, HOPING TO GET A FEW MORE.
WE'VE BUDGETED FOR FIVE, UH, APPLICATIONS THIS YEAR.
AND THIS GRANT IS A SMALL GRANT AS YOU SEE UP THERE, UP TO $3,000.
AND IT'S IDEA TO GET MORE GRASSROOT CONSERVATION MESSAGING INTO THE COMMUNITY.
UM, BECAUSE THERE ARE SMALL ORGANIZATIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY THAT ARE VERY INTERESTED IN WATER CONSERVATION.
AND THIS GRANT IS INTENDED TO BE ABLE TO GIVE THEM JUST A LITTLE BIT OF FUNDS TO, UH, SPREAD THE MESSAGE ABOUT WATER CONSERVATION.
UH, WE THINK FIVE FIVE WOULD BE GREAT, THREE WOULD BE GOOD.
AS WE ARE TOLD BY, UH, STAFF WHO IMPLEMENT THE BRIGHT GREEN FUTURE GRANT, WHICH IS A SIMILAR GRANT PROGRAM FOR $3,000, IT TAKES A WHILE FOR THESE SMALL GROUPS TO KIND OF GET THIS INTO THEIR PLANNING TO APPLY FOR THESE GRANTS.
SO AS WAS MENTIONED, IT'S ALWAYS A LITTLE SLOW THE FIRST YEAR, SO WE'RE HAPPY TO GET THREE AND WE'RE GONNA BUILD ON THAT AS WE GO FORWARD.
A FEW OTHER ITEMS I'VE MENTIONED BEFORE ABOUT THE NEW UNIFORM PLUMBING CODE, UM, WHICH WAS ADOPTED IN THE SPRING BY THE COUNCIL AND WILL RESTRICT NEW HOMES, THEIR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS TO 50% OF THE LANDSCAPE AREA.
UM, WE CONTINUE TO WORK WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND WHAT WE'VE TOLD STAKEHOLDERS IS THAT WHILE TECHNICALLY IT IS APPLICABLE COME JULY 10TH FOR NEW HOMES, WE ARE NOT GOING TO ENFORCE THE 50% RESTRICTION UNTIL
[00:15:01]
APRIL 6TH, 2026 TO GIVE BUILDERS AND IRRIGATORS TIME TO ADJUST THEIR PLANS AND THEIR CONTRACTS.AND IN THE FINAL ONE, WHICH IS MORE OF A BACK OFFICE WORK, UH, WE ARE WORKING WITH AUSTIN WATER IT DEPARTMENT, UH, TO IMPLEMENT OUR WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMS INTO THE NEW ENTERPRISE SALES FORCE APPLICATION.
IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH SALESFORCE, IT'S A CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGEMENT TOOL THAT ALLOWS DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN THE COMPANY TO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS CUSTOMER.
UM, SO I THINK IT'LL REALLY HELP OUR CONSERVATION PROGRAMS IN TERMS OF ALLOWING US TO BE BETTER AT, UH, KNOWING WHAT'S GOING ON IN DIFFERENT AREAS.
WATER CONSERVATION, RESIDENTIAL REBATE METRICS.
THE PREVIOUS FOUR QUARTERS ARE IN THE BLUE BARS, AS YOU'LL NOTICE IN FOR A NUMBER OF THE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS WE HAVE LISTED HERE THAT GREEN BAR HAS DROPPED SINCE Q2, WHICH IS, UH, USUAL, UH, BECAUSE Q3, AS YOU REMEMBER, IS JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER.
AND FOR LANDSCAPING PROGRAMS, WE DON'T GENERALLY RECOMMEND PEOPLE MAKE LARGE CHANGES TO THEIR LANDSCAPES IN JULY, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER.
SO WE TRY TO REALLY PUSH THOSE IN Q2 AND THEN IN Q4, UM, WHEN IT'S COOLER AND THE PLANTS HAVE A BETTER OPPORTUNITY TO GET ESTABLISHED.
SO THOSE WERE RE THOSE WERE RESIDENTIAL REBATES IN THE LAST ONE.
COMMERCIAL REBATES ARE SHOWN IN THIS SLIDE, AND THE GREEN BAR SHOWS THAT THERE WERE FOUR APPROVED REBATES FOR COMMERCIAL IN, IN Q3, UM, WHILE THERE WAS ONLY FOUR.
THOSE FOUR, AND THEY WERE ALL MULTIFAMILY, UM, ESTABLISHMENTS, THOSE FOUR ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 14 MILLION GALLONS PER YEAR IN SAVINGS.
SO, UH, SMALL NUMBER OF REBATES, BUT LARGE NUMBERS OF SAVINGS FOR COMMERCIAL.
ASK A QUESTION HERE? UM, JUST THIS REMINDED ME.
SO THE, UM, I THINK IT'S THE WATERWISE LANDSCAPE PROGRAM.
THAT'S WHERE YOU, UM, BASICALLY SWITCH YOUR LAWN TO LIKE A ZEROSCAPE SITUATION, RIGHT? CORRECT.
AND GET A REBATE FROM THE CITY FROM THAT.
YEAH, I WAS LOOKING AT THAT RECENTLY AND I WAS WONDERING, IT LOOKED LIKE YOU, TO BE ELIGIBLE, YOU BASICALLY HAVE TO BE WATERING YOUR LAWN QUITE A BIT AS IT IS.
LIKE YOU CAN'T, YOU CAN'T JUST LIKE LET YOUR LAWN DIE AND THEN RE LANDSCAPE IT AND ASK FOR A, A REBATE FROM THE CITY ON THAT.
YOU KINDA HAVE TO BE LIKE A MAJOR WATER USER IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE.
I, I UNDERSTAND THAT FROM A WATER SAVINGS PERSPECTIVE, BUT I GUESS I WAS JUST THINKING LIKE FROM A ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE AND ALSO FROM LIKE A MAYBE INSPIRING YOUR NEIGHBOR'S PERSPECTIVE, IT WOULD BE MAYBE GOOD JUST TO LIKE EVEN BRING IN THE PEOPLE THAT MAYBE HAVE BROWN LAWNS ALREADY, BUT WANT TO TRANSFORM IT, BUT LIKE, IT'S KIND OF EXPENSIVE.
SO DO YOU SEE WHERE I'M HEADED WITH THIS? WHAT'S THAT? DO YOU SEE WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS? YES, YES.
HAVE YOU, I'M SURE YOU'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT, BUT I'M CURIOUS.
UM, THERE, UH, THE INDIVIDUAL, THE STAFF MEMBER WHO ADMINISTERS THIS, HE GENERALLY HAS A 50% RULE.
THERE NEEDS TO BE AT LEAST SOME TYPE OF PLANT COVER ABOUT 50% ON THAT AREA.
SO IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A LUSH LAWN.
I MEAN, THAT WOULD BE GREAT IF WE TOOK OUT A REALLY LUSH LAWN AND PUT IN A, BUT, UM, I, I SEE YOUR POINT, BUT IT'S NOT THAT STRINGENT OF A, UH, APPLICATION PROCESS.
UH, BUT WE DO WANT TO HAVE SOME TYPE OF, UM, VEGETATION WITH THE IDEA THAT THERE WILL BE SOME OFFSET.
SO IF IT WAS JUST MUD AND NO ONE EVER WATERED THAT, AND THEN WE PAID TO PUT IT TO BEDS, THEN WE'D BE MOVING TOWARDS NEGATIVE WATER SAVINGS BECAUSE YOU NEVER WATERED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE AND NOW YOU'RE WATERING IT TO ESTABLISH THESE NEW PLANTS.
SO WE TRY TO SET SOME THRESHOLD OF LIVING TURF IN WHAT WE REBATE.
I JUST, I GUESS YOU COULD ALSO DO JUST FROM SEED, YOU COULD DO IT SO THAT IT, IF YOU, IF YOU WANTED TO GET THOSE PEOPLE THAT WERE, UM, THAT JUST HAD, YOU KNOW, DIRT RIGHT NOW, YOU COULD SAY, WELL, YOU'RE ONLY GONNA BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE REBATE IF YOU DON'T DO PLANTS.
YOU'RE GONNA, YOU JUST DO IT FROM SEED AND WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
AND HOPEFULLY THAT'LL TRANSFORM INTO THIS NICE
[00:20:02]
NATIVE LANDSCAPE THAT WILL THEN BASICALLY LIKE SHOW YOUR NEIGHBORS THAT WOULD, THAT THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL THING TO DO AND THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD SORT OF GET ON BOARD.THAT'S WHAT I'M THINKING OF, THE SORT OF KNOCK ON EFFECTS THAT ARE HARDER TO QUANTIFY.
UM, AS FAR AS JUST LIKE WE WANT MORE PEOPLE TO BE DOING THIS, UH, AND, AND NOT FEWER.
ALTHOUGH I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND FROM JUST LIKE A STRICT WATER SAVINGS PERSPECTIVE, IT DOESN'T MAKE A LOT OF SENSE MM-HMM
UM, BUT IF WE JUST WANTED TO SAY LIKE, LET'S GET A TON OF PEOPLE TO DO IT AND THEN BEING EVEN LOOSER ABOUT THE RESTRICTIONS COULD BE SOMETHING TO CONSIDER.
UH, THIS SLIDE SHOWS THE, UH, METRICS FOR THE COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENTS.
AS I'VE MENTIONED BEFORE IN PREVIOUS BRIEFINGS, THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMERCIAL COOLING TOWERS, IRRIGATION AND VEHICLE WASH, THAT THEY INSTALL A PARTICULAR WATER SAVING COMPONENTS IN THEIR IRRIGATION SYSTEM OR COOLING TOWER OR CAR WASH.
AND THEY'RE REQUIRED ANNUALLY OR BI-ANNUALLY IN TERMS OF IRRIGATION TO SEND THIS REPORT TO SAY THAT YES, THEY HAVE ALL THOSE REQUIRED WATER SAVING COMPONENTS IN THEIR PROCESSES, AND THESE ARE THE PERCENTAGE OF FACILITIES THAT ARE COMPLIANT WITH THAT.
UH, THEY, UH, CREATE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF SAVINGS.
YOU SEE, 87, 83, 92, UM, IT'S GONE UP A LITTLE BIT FOR CAR WASH.
IT'S ABOUT THE SAME FOR COOLING TOWERS AND, UH, IRRIGATION.
ONE THING TO NOTE ON THIS IS THAT, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, WE ARE WORKING TO BRING OUR WATER CONSERVATION PROCESSES INTO THAT NEW SALESFORCE APPLICATION.
UM, AND IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, WE'RE KIND OF ESSENTIALLY GOING FROM EXCEL WORKSHEETS TO, UH, CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGEMENT DATABASE.
SO I THINK FOR THESE PARTICULAR PROGRAMS, WHICH, UM, ACCOUNT FOR OVER HALF OF THE WATER THAT WE CAN QUANTIFY IN TERMS OF SAVINGS, THAT WILL REALLY ALLOW STAFF TO DO A LOT MORE IN REACHING OUT AND FINDING THOSE THAT HAVE BECOME NON-COMPLIANT.
SO WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING A BETTER HANDLE ON THIS PROGRAM, THESE PROGRAMS. NEXT SLIDE.
AND THESE ARE THE MILESTONES THAT WERE IN THE WATER CONSERVATION PLAN AND THE WATER FORWARD PLAN.
AS YOU, AS YOU SEE AT THE TOP, I HAVE HAVE THOSE NOTED FOR FOLKS WHO ARE INTIMATELY AWARE OF THOSE PLANS AND EVERYTHING THAT'S IN THEM.
THESE VARIOUS MILESTONES, THE CHANGES FROM LAST QUARTER, UM, Q2 TO Q3 CHANGES INCLUDE ON THAT.
SECOND ONE DOWN, IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES FOR CII FACILITY, COMMERCIAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES TO BENEFIT FROM ITX WATER.
UM, THAT'S GONE FROM PLANNING INTO PROGRESS.
UM, WE'VE REALLY STARTED TO TRY TO MAKE, USE MORE OF THAT MY TX WATER TO REACH COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS, UM, AND, UH, EITHER FIX LEAKS OR TRY TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO USE INCENTIVES.
ALSO, THE LAST MILESTONE DOWN THERE HAS ADVANCED, THE PROGRESS BAR HAS ADVANCED TO COMPLETED, UH, AUSTIN WATER INSPECTIONS AND NEW RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS AND NEW HOMEOWNER FOLLOW UP CHECKUPS DURING THE SUMMER.
WE'VE IMPLEMENTED THE LAST PART OF THOSE CHECKUPS.
SO NEW HOMEOWNERS EITHER GET A STICKER OR A POSTCARD OR BOTH SAYING, WELCOME TO AUSTIN, IF YOU NEED HELP WITH THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM, GIVE US A CALL.
UM, AND THEN NEXT SLIDE, WATER LOSS REDUCTION UPDATES.
OVER THE SUMMER, WE INCREASED THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES CERTIFIED TO SUBMIT TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD WATER LOSS AUDITS FROM FROM ONE TO FOUR.
SO WE ARE INCREASING OUR BENCH THERE.
AND THEN THAT FINAL BULLET DOWN THERE.
ALSO, WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF HIRING A WATER LOSS ENGINEER.
UH, THAT'S GONNA BE FOCUSED ON WATER LOSS TRACKING.
SO WE'RE ADDING MORE BREADTH, UH, AND MORE DEPTH TO STAFF WORKING ON WATER LOSS AS WE GO ALONG.
ALSO, THE THIRD BULLET DOWN, UH, YOU GOT IT.
UM, I, I THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL WHEN LOOKING AT THE UPDATE, UM, TO COMPARE IT TO EXPECTATIONS OR A TIMELINE OR, YOU KNOW, WHAT OUR PLAN WAS SO WE CAN GET A SENSE OF ARE WE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE OR, OR BEHIND SCHEDULE OR SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN.
UM, THE OTHER SUGGESTION I HAVE IS, IS THAT WE, WE, WE FIGURE OUT A WAY TO RANK THE PROJECTS, UM, BASED ON THEIR IMPACT
[00:25:01]
OR EXPECTED IMPACT TO THE OVERALL EFFORT AND TALK ABOUT THE MOST IMPACTFUL ONES FIRST.THIS MAY BE THE MOST IMPACTFUL, BUT I DON'T HAVE A WAY TO HAVE A FEEL FOR THAT.
UM, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE'RE JUST, WE'RE JUST GIVING UPDATES AND NOT REFERRING BACK TO KIND OF A PRIORITIZED LIST.
UH, I, I WAS MENTIONING WE GOT A $45 MILLION LOAN AND WE'VE TALKED IN THE PAST ABOUT REALLY LEANING INTO REPLACING THOSE SERVICE LINES, UM, BETWEEN THE WATER MAINS AND THE HOUSES, WHICH WAS AN AREA IDENTIFIED AS, UH, CONTRIBUTING TO WATER LOSS.
SO WE'LL BE UTILIZING THAT MONEY AND, AND REPLACING THOSE SERVICE LINES.
NUMBER OF WATER MAIN LEAKS, UH, DETECTED AND REPAIRED, UH, IN Q3 IS 116, WHICH WAS A JUMP UP FROM Q2.
UM, AND AS NOTED BEFORE, WATER LOSS IN THE MAINS ARE AS WELL AS WATER LOSS IN HOUSE FOR HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMERCIAL FACILITIES IS OFTEN DEPENDENT ON WEATHER.
WHEN IT'S REALLY COLD OR WHEN IT'S HOT IS WHEN THE WATER MAINS OR LANE LINES, UM, TEND TO, TO BREAK AND NEED TO BE REPAIRED.
UM, WATER LOSS IN Q3 2025 IS WAS ONE 16, AS I MENTIONED, IS UP FROM A YEAR AGO IN Q3, UH, OF 95.
UM, AND THAT'S, I'M NOT SURE I CAN COMMENT MORE ON THAT, BUT, UM, AS, AS MATT CULLEN WOULD OFTEN TELL ME, YOU KNOW, YOU GOTTA LOOK AT IT A LITTLE LONGER.
WE HAD A SIGNIFICANT DECLINE IN WATER MAIN LEAKS OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS.
UM, SO WHILE YOU MIGHT SEE BUMPS UP IN THE LAST COUPLE QUARTERS, UM, THERE HAS BEEN A, A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF WATER MAIN LEAKS AND REPAIRS.
ALRIGHT, WATER LOSS REDUCTION METRICS.
WE'VE ADDED TEXT HERE TO GIVE YOU A BIT OF CONTEXT ON THE PROGRESS ON WATER LOSS.
UH, ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE THERE, YOU'VE SEEN A NUMBER OF QUARTERS WITH, UH, ZERO ADDITIONAL FEET OF WATER MAINS, UM, GOING THROUGH, UH, CONDITION ASSESSMENT AND WATER MAIN DETECTION.
HOWEVER, WE DID COMPLETE A CONTRACT AT THE END OF NOVEMBER, UM, AND IN DECEMBER THERE WILL BE 32,000 FEET OF CONDITION ASSESSMENT DONE ON WATER MAIN LEAKS.
SO YOU WILL SEE THAT IN THE NEXT QUARTER.
ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE IN THE GREEN, YOU SEE THE NUMBER OF SMALL DIAMETER LEAK DETECTION AND REPAIR DONE.
UH, THAT'S A LITTLE, THAT IS LOWER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONES Q1 AND Q2.
HOWEVER, THE, THE SUM OF THOSE Q1, Q2 AND Q3 MONTHS OR QUARTERS RATHER, THE SUM OF THE LINEAR FEET DETECTED IN IS OVER THE 2.64 MILLION LINEAR FEET GOAL.
SO IT IS A LITTLE LOWER THIS LAST QUARTER.
UM, BUT WE ARE STILL ABOVE THE GOAL THAT WE HAVE FOR THE YEAR.
KEVIN, JUST A QUICK QUESTION THERE.
SO ON THE LEAK DETECTION AND CONDITION ASSESSMENT, 'CAUSE I DON'T KNOW THOSE PROCESSES THAT WELL.
I ASSUME THEY'RE, UM, DIFFERENT ENOUGH SO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THEM SIMULTANEOUSLY.
LIKE BETWEEN THE, WHEN YOU DO A CONDITION ASSESSMENT, YOU CAN'T ALSO DO A LEAK DETECTION ON THE SAME BIT OF LINE.
THEY'RE, THEY'RE, THEY'RE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS, BUT THEY'RE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT, BUT THEY'RE, THEY'RE SIMILAR.
UM, AND I'M NOT SURE I CAN TALK A WHOLE LOT MORE ABOUT THAT UNLESS KEVIN COULD.
YEAH, I MEAN, JUST BRIEFLY, THE, I MEAN, THERE, THERE'S A WHOLE SPAN OF DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES OUT THERE.
CONDITION ASSESSMENT FOR VERY LARGE PIPES, TYPICALLY ENGINEERED PIPES, UM, REALLY INVOLVE, UM, TECHNOLOGIES THAT ALLOW US TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER OR NOT WE'RE, WE'RE EXPERIENCING LIKE, UH, BREAKAGE WITHIN THE, UM, UH, STRUCTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE PIPE ITSELF.
OBVIOUSLY IF WE GET TOO MANY OF THOSE THAT WILL MANIFEST ITSELF IN A WEAK SPOT AND THE SYSTEM MAN COULD BREAK.
SO THAT'S ONE APPROACH THAT'S DIFFERENT, OF COURSE, FROM LIKE SONIC LEAK DETECTION WHERE WE WOULD ACTUALLY LISTEN TO A STRING OF PIPE TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHERE IT MAY ACTIVELY BE LEAKING.
SO I THINK THAT'S WHAT'S TRYING TO BE REFLECTED HERE, SO MM-HMM
YEAH, I WAS JUST WONDERING, UM, IS THERE ANY WAY TO KNOW WATER SAVINGS
[00:30:01]
OR AVOIDED WATER LOSS BASED ON THE FEET OF LEAK DETECTION AND REPAIR PERFORMED? OR, AND NOT A WAY TO KNOW, BUT A WAY TO CALCULATE OR ESTIMATE, RIGHT.THAT I, I THINK WE'RE, WE'RE STILL WORKING ON TRYING TO HOW TO BEST CHARACTERIZE SORT OF YIELD THAT WE GET FROM THESE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES.
PARTLY TO, I THINK TODD'S POINT, UM, IT'S SOME LEVEL IT'S DIFFICULT TO QUANTIFY, YOU KNOW, WHERE WE'RE NOT HAVING LEAKS, RIGHT? I MEAN, THAT'S A GOOD THING, BUT SO I MEAN, TRYING TO BASELINE THAT AND UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT'S COMPARED AGAINST.
UM, I MEAN, I THINK GENERALLY SPEAKING, OUR PROGRAMS ARE DEVELOPED SORT OF COMPARED AGAINST INDUSTRY AVERAGES OR INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICES.
IT'S VERY, VERY HARD TO PUT SORT OF A, A VOLUME ON AN ACTIVITY THAT RESULTS IN CONFIRMING THAT WE DON'T HAVE LEAKS.
I SAID THAT IN A VERY, OKAY, SO, SO LET ME SEE IF I UNDERSTAND.
SO WE'RE TRACKING, UM, FEED OF LEAK LEAK DETECTION AGAINST LIKE PROBABLY SOME KIND OF BENCHMARK, A W BENCHMARK OR SOMETHING, BECAUSE THAT'S A BEST PRACTICE THAT WE WANNA MAKE SURE WE'RE STAYING ON TOP OF THAT.
UM, BUT IT'S MAYBE TOO FAR INTO THE DATA OR WE'RE STILL WORKING ON BEING ABLE TO SAY OF THAT LEAK DETECTION, WE FOUND THIS MANY LEAKS AND WE POTENTIALLY STOPPED X AMOUNT OF WATER LOSS.
LIKE, WE'RE NOT QUITE TO THAT SECOND PART YET, IS WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, I'D SAY.
AND IT'S SIMILAR TO, UM, YOU KNOW, HOUSEHOLD LEAKS.
UM, YEAH, AND YOU MAY HAVE SEEN, SO LATER IN HERE THERE'S A, THERE IS A ESTIMATE ON MILLION GALLONS OF WATER SAVED BASED ON THE LEAK DETECTION ALERTS SENT TO CUSTOMERS.
AND MY QUESTION WAS LIKE, OH, WELL THAT'S REALLY INTERESTING.
HOW DID WE, I'M JUST CURIOUS, LIKE HOW DO WE GET THERE? SO, 'CAUSE AT THE GOOD AFTERNOON, OH, JAY TON AUSTIN WATER DIRECTOR, SORRY I WAS LATE, BUT I'M GLAD TO BE HERE NOW.
UM, THE PORTAL OR THE SYSTEM THAT WE USE, THE MY A TX WATER SYSTEM HA DOES SOME MATH BEHIND THE SCENES TO ESTIMATE HOW MUCH WATER IS SAVED WHEN WE SEND OUT AN ALERT TO A CUSTOMER AND THEN THEY FIX THE LEAK SOONER THAN THEY WOULD HAVE BY THE TIME THEY GOT THEIR BILL.
UM, AND THEN WE DO, UH, ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT WE'VE LOST THROUGH PIPE BREAKS AND LEAKS, UM, AS PART OF OUR WATER LOSS CALCULATIONS.
BUT IT'S, IT'S, IT'S D IT'S JUST FRANKLY DIFFICULT TO DO.
YOU KNOW, IT DEPENDS ON HOW LONG IT WAS GOING ON AND HOW BIG THE PIPE WAS AND WHAT THE PRESSURE WAS AND SORT OF THE, IT'S SO SPECIFIC TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THAT PARTICULAR LEAK MM-HMM
THAT I THINK IT'S JUST ALWAYS GONNA BE CHALLENGING FOR US TO, TO QUANTIFY WATER SAVED AND TO DEVELOP HOW DO WE ESTIMATE WHAT OUR YIELD IS OF THIS STRATEGY FOR, FOR WATER SUPPLY PURPOSES.
BUT AS YOU SAID, WE DO KNOW THAT THERE ARE BEST PRACTICES WHEN IT COMES TO WATER LOSS THAT WE CAN JUDGE BASED ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REDUCING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE LEAK INDEX AND OTHER KPIS THAT WE CAN USE TO ASSESS WHETHER WE'RE DOING ENOUGH LEAK DETECTION AND WE CAN COMPARE OURSELVES TO OTHER UTILITIES OF SIMILAR SIZE AND COMPLEXITY AS WELL.
AND CAN I JUST MENTION, I THINK THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION THAT YOU'RE ASKING BECAUSE THE LEAK DETECTION COMPONENT, SO LIKE LISTENING FOR LEAKS, USING ACOUSTIC EQUIPMENT SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND LIKE WHERE LEAKS MAY BE HAPPENING.
NOW, IF WE CATCH LEAKS, THEN WE COULD SAY LIKE, YOU KNOW, MAYBE WE COULD FIGURE OUT A WAY TO ESTIMATE LIKE IF THIS LEAK HAD CONTINUED FOR A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME, THEN MAYBE THERE'S SOME LEVEL OF SAVINGS THERE.
AND THEN THE CONDITION ASSESSMENTS ARE REALLY ABOUT UNDERSTANDING HOW OUR, UM, PIPES, UM, HOW WHAT STATE OUR PIPES ARE IN.
AND SO THAT'S EVEN A STEP BEFORE WE GET TO THE ACTUAL LEAK.
YOU KNOW, THAT'S US TRYING TO PREVENT THE LEAK FROM HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE BY MAKING SURE THAT ALL OF OUR PIPES ARE IN A GOOD CONDITION OR MANY, OR MANY OF OUR PIPES ARE IN GOOD CONDITION.
THAT PART IS EVEN MORE CHALLENGING THAN TO ESTIMATE SAVINGS FROM, BECAUSE YOU COULD HAVE A SMALL LEAK FROM A PIPE THAT'S IN PORK CONDITION TO A VERY LARGER CATASTROPHIC LEAK.
UM, BUT THE CONDITION, I THINK IT'S A GOOD QUESTION ABOUT LIKE, HOW CAN WE TRY TO TACKLE SOME OF THE AVOIDED COST ELEMENTS AND THE VALUE OF THESE PROGRAMS TO SHORTEN THE DURATION OF TIME, UM, DURING WHICH LEAKS ARE OCCURRING OR PREVENT THE LEAKS FROM OCCURRING, UM, AT ALL.
OKAY, WELL THAT'S VERY HELPFUL.
AND THEN ON, AND I'M NOT TRYING TO, UM, CHASE DATA FOR ITS OWN SAKE.
LIKE WE ONLY WANT THINGS THAT ARE GONNA HELP MAKE GOOD DECISIONS.
[00:35:01]
JUST, I THINK SOMETIMES A LITTLE BIT HARD TO TAKE THE, THESE KINDS OF, I MEAN WE'RE ON TRACK, SO THAT'S GOODTHE MILESTONES FOR WATER LOSS REDUCTION.
MANY OF THESE MILESTONES DEAL WITH OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS DEVELOPING STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR STAFF AND CONTRACTORS.
NO PROGRESS BARS WERE MOVED IN Q3 OVER THE SUMMER.
UM, HOWEVER, OUR GOAL IS TO GET, UM, MOST OF THE STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES THAT YOU SEE THERE IN THE MIDDLE, UH, COMPLETED BY THE YEAR, END OF THE YEAR.
RECLAIMED WATER AND ONSITE WATER REUSE UPDATES OVER THE SUMMER.
UM, OBTAIN THE COUNCIL REAUTHORIZATION OF GO PURPLE, PROMOTED GO PURPLE INCENTIVES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
AND THERE WERE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS APPROVED BY COUNCIL, UM, FOR THE, UM, A BIA NORTH RECLAIMED WATER LOOP AND THE FAR FALWELL LANE CAPITAL RENEW RENEWAL PROJECTS.
AND YOU'LL SEE THOSE IN A FEW SLIDES THERE.
UH, TOTAL WATER NUMBER OF RECLAIMED METERS INCREASED BY ONE OVER THE SUMMER.
UM, THE VOLUME OF CENTRALIZED RECLAIMED INCREASED QUITE A BIT IN THAT GREEN LINE THERE, YOU SEE.
MOST OF THE RECLAIMED WATER IS USED FOR IRRIGATION, SO IT'S NOT UNEXPECTED THAT THAT WOULD, UH, BOUNCE UP IN Q3.
HOWEVER, COMPARED TO Q3 2024, UM, IT LOOKS LIKE IT JUMPED UP QUITE A BIT.
UH, THE INTERESTING THING IS THAT IT DIDN'T INCREASE SO MUCH AS LOOKING BACK IN Q3, 2024 WAS ACTUALLY LOW.
THAT 600 MILLION GALLONS IN Q3 IS KIND OF THE NORM BACK IN Q3 OF 2024.
AND AS AFTER WE PUT THIS WHOLE, UM, UPDATE TOGETHER, WE LOOKED INTO IT FURTHER AND DETERMINED THAT, UH, THERE WAS A PERIOD IN AUGUST, UM, WHERE THE PLC PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CORD CONTROLLER, WHICH I DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND, BUT IT MEASURES THE AMOUNT OF RECLAIMED WATER COMING OUT OF THE SOUTH AUSTIN, UH, WASTEWATER, UH, WASTEWATER PLANT, UM, WAS OFFLINE BEING CALIBRATED FOR A PERIOD OF TIME.
SO WE BELIEVE THAT THAT SMALLER NUMBER IN Q3 2024 WAS JUST THE LACK OF SOME DATA OF RECLAIMED AND WE'RE WORKING TO TRY TO RECREATE HOW MUCH WENT THROUGH THERE AND GET A BETTER VOLUME FOR 2024.
THIS WAS A SLIDE THAT WAS ADDED IN THE LAST QUARTERLY REPORT, THE CURRENT RECLAIMED PROJECTS.
UM, THERE WAS ONE PROJECT THAT WAS ADDED TO THE LIST, THE FIFTH DOWN, CRAIG FIELDS'S, RECLA RECLAIMED WATERLINE RESTORATION, UH, WAS ADDED TO THE LIST, ALSO ADDED TO THE LIST.
YOU'LL SEE AFTER THE BOLD TEXT FOR EACH PROJECT, THE LINEAR FEET OF THE LINES AND THE EXPECTED COMPLETION DATE, UH, COMPLETION QUARTER RATHER OF THAT PARTICULAR PROJECT.
SO YOU'LL SEE THAT ALL TOF IS LOOKING TO BE COMPLETED IN JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, OR FIRST QUARTER OF 2026.
AND THEN THE OTHER ONES ARE, ARE FURTHER OUT.
ONSITE WATER REUSE AND GO PURPLE, UH, METRICS GO THE GO PURPLE PROGRAM ACTIVITIES FOR THE LAST QUARTER.
UH, WELL FOR THE LAST SEVERAL QUARTERS WHEN WE REPORTED TO THESE, TO THESE, TO YOU.
UM, UNFORTUNATELY THERE HASN'T BEEN A WHOLE LOT OF TAKERS FOR THESE INCENTIVES.
UM, BUT WE ARE HAPPY TO SAY THAT DOWN ON THAT BOTTOM BULLET THERE, THERE WAS ONE, UH, FEE IN LIEU OF ONSITE REUSE SYSTEMS, UH, APPLICATION THAT WAS APPROVED.
SO WE DID GET ONE INCENTIVE FOR FEE IN LIEU.
BUT BEYOND THE INCENTIVES YOU SEE OVER ON THE RIGHT, THERE WERE THREE CONSTRUCTION PERMITS FOR ONSITE WATER REUSE SYSTEMS APPROVED IN Q3, WHICH IS SIMILAR TO Q1 AND Q2.
SO EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE AREN'T TAKING THE MONEY, THESE PROJECTS STILL ARE BEING PERMITTED.
THE MILESTONES FOR A CONSERVATION WATER FORWARD PLAN FOR RECLAIMED AND ONSITE
[00:40:01]
DOWN AT THE BOTTOM, THE ONE THAT HAS CHANGED UNDER DECENTRALIZED RECLAIMED, UH, WHICH WAS COMPLETE WASTEWATER COLLECTION SYSTEM, LONG RANGE PLAN THAT HAS BEEN COMPLETED.ADDITIONAL RECLAIMED AND REUSE MILESTONES.
THESE ONES, THESE MILESTONES DEAL PARTICULARLY WITH ONSITE WATER REUSE CHANGES FROM THE LAST QUARTER.
YOU, UH, INCLUDE THE THIRD ONE DOWN, AMEND GO PURPLE RESOLUTION, UH, THAT IS BEING MARKED AS COMPLETED.
CONSERVATION OUTREACH UPDATES GOING INTO Q3, WHICH IS THE SUMMER.
UH, OUR OUTREACH FOLKS REALLY HAD TO SHIFT GEARS FROM GOING TO THOSE SPRING MESSAGES OF LANDSCAPING, UM, AND CHANGING OUT YOUR YARD AND, AND SO FORTH.
AND GETTING READY TO THE SUMMER TO THOSE SUMMER OUTREACH EFFORTS REALLY THAT DEAL WITH, UM, IRRIGATION AND LIMITING THE IRRIGATION TO BE WITHIN OUR SCHEDULE.
OF COURSE, IT WAS REALLY KIND OF THROWN OFF AT THE BEGINNING OF THE QUARTER TO COME JULY 4TH AND THERE'S A HUGE AMOUNT OF RAIN AND WE ESSENTIALLY LEFT, UH, DROUGHT STAGE TWO, WHICH WAS 50% AND WENT UP TO, I THINK IT WAS 90% STORAGE BY THE END OF JULY, MID-JULY.
SO OUR OUTREACH EFFORTS REALLY HAD TO SHIFT, UM, FROM TALKING ABOUT DROUGHT TO JUST TALKING ABOUT, UH, LIMITING YOUR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS. AND NEXT SLIDE.
AND DESPITE SHIFTING GEARS, UH, THE SUMMER OF Q3 REALLY IS A BIG TIME FOR OUR, OUR OUTREACH EFFORTS.
YOU SEE THERE, WE HAD 28 TH 28 MILLION IMPRESSIONS THAT JUST, UH, GENERALLY SHOWS HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE SEEING THESE THINGS.
HOW OFTEN THROUGHOUT THE QUARTER.
YOU MAY NOT REMEMBER IT, BUT IN Q1 THERE WERE 15 MILLION IMPRESSIONS.
IN Q2 THERE WERE 23 MILLION IMPRESSIONS.
AND NOW OVER THE SUMMER, UH, JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, THERE'S 28 MILLION IMPRESSIONS.
SO THEY REALLY PUT A LOT MORE INFORMATION OUT THERE THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER.
ADMIT ADMITTEDLY, IT WILL DECLINE IN THE WINTER, UM, BECAUSE THAT'S, UH, NOT A QUARTER THAT WE PUSH CONSERVATION, UM, OUTREACH AS MUCH, ALTHOUGH WE STILL DO, BUT WE FOCUS MORE ON WINTER PREP AND THE WASTEWATER AVERAGING IN THE FOURTH QUARTER.
CONSERVATION OUTREACH IN TERMS OF THE MITX WATER PORTAL LEAK ALERTS, THIS IS, UH, A TOPIC THAT WE BROUGHT UP BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT MAIN LEAKS.
THESE ARE INDIVIDUAL LEAKS SENT OUT TO CUSTOMERS THROUGH OUR MIGHT TX WATER SYSTEM.
WHEN A LEAK IS DETECTED BY THE SYSTEM, WHEN THERE IS ENOUGH CONTINUOUS FLOW THAT INDICATES A LEAK FOR A RESIDENTIAL, UM, HOMEOWNER ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE, YOU SEE THE NUMBER OF LEAKS ALERTS WENT UP A BIT IN THE SUMMER, WHICH IS NOT, UH, UNUSUAL.
UH, SUMMERS, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, COLD WEATHER AND HOT WEATHER OFTEN CAN LEAD TO MORE LEAKS, WHETHER IT'S IN MAINES OR IT'S IN HOUSEHOLD PLUMBING.
ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YOU SEE THE ESTIMATED WATER SAVINGS FROM THE TEX WATER CONTINUOUS LEAK ALERTS.
AS SHAA HAD MENTIONED, OUR MYX WATER APPLICATION, THEY CALCULATE THESE, UH, LEAK SAVINGS.
UH, AND GENERALLY THE WAY THEY CALCULATE THEM IS THAT THROUGH THEIR EXPERIENCE, AND THIS IS VERTEX ONE, THE COMPANY BEHIND MY TX WATER, IN THEIR EXPERIENCE LOOKING AT LEAK ALERTS AND CUSTOMER'S WATER USE, AFTER THAT, THEY ESTIMATE THAT THE SAVINGS OF SENDING OUT THAT LEAK ALERT IS ROUGHLY 10% OF THE WATER USED IN THE PREVIOUS MONTH.
SO IT'S A RATHER SIMPLISTIC WAY OF ESTIMATING WATER USE, BUT IT IS A WAY TO SEE HOW OR ESTIMATE HOW MUCH WATER'S BEING SAVED.
THAT'S REALLY BASED ON THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THEIR A MI SYSTEMS PREVIOUS TO THIS, SARAH.
OH YEAH, I WAS JUST WONDERING LIKE A LEAK, IS THAT LIKE A, A LEAK IN A PIPE, LIKE IN THE PLUMBING OR IS IT A RUNNING TOILET OR DO WE KNOW? IT COULD BE EITHER.
WHAT? LIKE WHAT, HOW DO YOU, HOW MUCH DOES IT HAVE TO BE, WHAT, WHAT GENERATES LEAK ALERT? I GUESS THAT, MAYBE THAT'S MY QUESTION.
[00:45:01]
RUNNING CONTINUOUS USE.I HAVE TO ADMIT, I DON'T REMEMBER THAT OFFHAND.
I KNOW THAT, UH, MAR SAID NO, SHE DOESN'T HAVE
SHE WAS TIPPING HER COMPUTER AND I WAS THINKING, WOW, SHE'S PULLING THAT UP.
I DON'T REMEMBER THAT OFFHAND.
I, I DON'T KNOW THAT I HAVE LIKE A, A NUMERIC VALUE.
I THINK A LOT OF IT GOES TO JUST COMPARISON OF WATER USE FINGERPRINTS ARE SORT OF COMPARING IT TO NORMAL WATER USE IN A HOUSEHOLD.
SO IF YOU'RE SEEING SORT OF A CONSISTENT LOW USE IN A HOUSEHOLD THAT WOULD SUGGEST THAT IT'S A STUCK FLAPPER VALVE AS AN EXAMPLE, IF YOU'RE SEEING, YOU KNOW, NORMAL USAGE, BUT THEN LARGE SPIKES, YOU KNOW, THAT COULD INDICATE PROBLEM WITH AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM.
SO I MEAN, I THINK IT, THE ANALYTICS GOES INTO THAT.
AND SO I, BEYOND THAT, I COULDN'T TELL YOU THAT.
SO IT'S AI FROM A RUNNING TOILET TO A BROKEN SPRINKLER? CORRECT.
AND THIS IS MOSTLY SINGLE FAMILY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT? 'CAUSE UM, IT DOES, IT IS SENT OUT FOR COMMERCIAL, BUT WE FOUND THAT IT'S LESS EFFECTIVE FOR COMMERCIAL, UM, ONLY BECAUSE THE HOMEOWNER GETS THAT THEY CAN TAKE ACTION WHEN IT'S SENT TO THE BILLING DEPARTMENT OF RIGHT.
THE STORE THAT COULD TAKE LONGER.
BUT IN TERMS OF THE THRESHOLD FOR LEAKS, ESSENTIALLY IT'S THE NUMBER, A NUMBER OF GALLONS OVER X HOURS.
UM, AND WE CAN GET YOU THOSE, THOSE XS.
UM, BUT THAT'S HOW IT DETERMINES THE LEAK.
I, I GUESS I WOULD JUST ADD, I MEAN, I, I THINK IT JUST REINFORCES HOW IMPORTANT SORT OF WHERE WE ARE ON THE JOURNEY, RIGHT? I MEAN, THE MORE WE DEVELOP WITH RESPECT TO THE ANALYTICS IN OUR SYSTEM, I THINK THE MORE HELPFUL IT WILL BE ACROSS ALL USER CATEGORIES.
AND SO, I MEAN, WE, WE ARE NOW APPROACHING A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF PENETRATION OF ALL OF OUR METERS.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE'RE CONTINUING TO TRY TO GET, UM, UH, PARTICIPATION IN PORTAL USAGE.
AND THE MORE INFORMATION WE GET THROUGH THE PORTAL USE, THE MORE WE'RE ABLE TO DEVELOP FURTHER, YOU KNOW, ANALYTICS.
UM, SO I THINK IT'S, IT'S SORT OF A, AN EXERCISE THAT WE'LL GET BETTER WITH YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR.
SO, QUICK QUESTION, AND YOU JUST ALLUDED TO IT.
SO HOW MANY FOLKS OR YOU KNOW, CUSTOMERS ARE SIGNED UP FOR THE, THE PORTAL CURRENTLY THAT IS YIELDING THE 28? YEAH, I'M GOING TO GUESS, I THINK I HAD HEARD THAT NUMBER AT ONE POINT.
IS THAT CORRECT? LIKE, DO YOU KNOW A PERCENTAGE? I DO NOT KNOW THAT.
I MEAN, WE HAVE ROUGHLY 260,000 METERS, SO IT'S A PRETTY LOW PERCENTAGE.
I DO THINK, HOWEVER, OUR PORTAL PARTICIPATION AS A PERCENTAGE IS HIGH IN COMPARISON TO OTHER SYSTEMS THAT HAVE ROBUST, UM, A MI SYSTEMS. SO AGAIN, I THINK THAT'S PART OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE PROCESS AND EDUCATING PEOPLE ABOUT THE VALUE IN UNDERSTANDING THEIR WATER USE AND THE TOOLS.
I MEAN, WE CAN GET YOU THE NUMBERS ON, ON HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE SIGNED UP FOR THE PORTAL.
MARISA AND I WERE REMEMBERING THAT WE THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT 25 OR 30% OF OUR, OF OUR CUSTOMERS.
THAT COULD HAVE BEEN THE, REMEMBER 35, MAYBE THAT'S THE NUMBER.
AND THIS IS, AND LET US GET THE NUMBER.
SO WE'LL, WE'LL GET YOU THAT NUMBER.
AND I, I THINK THAT, UM, WE, WE ALSO HAVE THE ABILITY TO, JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS NOT IN THE PORTAL DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THEY'RE NOT GETTING THE MESSAGES.
SO THERE'S SORT OF A VARIETY OF CONTACT OPTIONS THAT ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE PORTAL.
AND, UM, I THINK WE'VE, UM, DID WE DO OUR COMMUNICATIONS BRIEFING LAST MEETING? WE HAVE, WE DID THAT TO FOR WATER WASTE, WATER COMMISSION, WATER COMMISSION, BUT THAT HAS NOT BEEN PRESENTED YET.
SO YEAH, THAT'S, THERE'S A LOT OF THAT GOOD INFORMATION IS IN THAT COMMUNICATIONS BRIEFING THAT WE WOULD BE HAPPY TO BRING.
IF I MAY, I HAVE A, AN OFFHAND JUST SUGGESTION, JUST SPEAKING AS A CUSTOMER THAT I'VE SORT OF ASKED, YOU KNOW, I JUST ASK AROUND MY NEIGHBORS AND OUR NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION.
UM, BUT PREVIOUSLY YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT ALL THE IMPRESSIONS YOU'RE GETTING ON THE WATER CONSERVATION MESSAGING.
SO I DON'T KNOW IF IN THE OFF SEASON WHEN YOU'RE NOT DOING WATER CONSERVATION, YOU'RE PUSHING PORTAL SIGNUPS, BUT I MEAN, I THINK THAT THERE'S STILL A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE PORTAL.
AND SO MAYBE WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORKING SO HARD ON THE CONSERVATION MESSAGING, JUST TRYING TO GET PEOPLE MORE SIGNUPS.
UM, 'CAUSE 28,000 LEAK ALERTS IN A MONTH IS A LOT MM-HMM
ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO HOW MANY PEOPLE THAT HAVE THE PORTAL.
SO CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE EXPONENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES.
TRYING TO GET, GET MORE PEOPLE TO SIGN UP FOR THE PORTAL IS, UM, IS A BIG PART OF, OF OUR GOAL.
[00:50:01]
AND WE'RE ALL ALWAYS TRYING TO BALANCE THE AMOUNT OF MESSAGING THAT WE DO BECAUSE WE MIGHT GET, YOU KNOW, IF WE GET 10 NEW PORTAL SIGNUPS, WILL WE GET 12 UNSUBSCRIBES? THEN THAT'S, YOU KNOW, WE NEED TO FIND THAT BALANCE OF, OF LIKE REACHING THE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T BEEN REACHED YET AND NOT OVER MESSAGING TO THE PEOPLE WHO, YOU KNOW, WILL THEN WILL THEN TAKE THEMSELVES OUT OF IT IF THEY FEEL LIKE WE'RE REACHING OUT TOO MUCH, LIKE ON AN EMAIL OR SOMETHING.YEAH, I THINK I WAS TALKING MORE ABOUT LIKE SOCIAL MEDIA, WHICH SEEMS LIKE WHAT YOU WERE SHOWING THE IMPRESSIONS.
AND, AND WE DO A LOT OF THE PORTAL.
SO LIKE, JUST ANECDOTALLY AND YOU GUYS HAVE ALL THE DATA.
I'M JUST SAYING ANECDOTALLY LIKE WE GOT THE NEW METERS.
NOBODY ON MY STREET KNOWS, LIKE, AND THEY'RE PRETTY AWARE OF PEOPLE.
SO, YOU KNOW, I'M JUST LIKE, AND THAT'S TOTALLY ANECDOTAL, BUT LIKE KEEP TELLING PEOPLE TO GET THE PORTAL.
AND I TOLD KEVIN, LIKE, MY DREAM OF ALL DREAMS WOULD BE THAT WE HAD ONE PORTAL WHERE YOU COULD SEE YOUR ELECTRICITY AND YOUR WATER BECAUSE THERE'S SO MANY OF THOSE ELECTRICITY, SOLAR, BATTERY, REALLY INTERESTED PEOPLE
THEY COULD HAVE ONE APP AND OBSESS ABOUT ALL OF IT.
WATER AND THE ELECTRICITY PEOPLE.
MADELINE, YOU STILL HAVE A QUESTION? YEAH.
UM, I WAS JUST GONNA ASK ABOUT, UH, MULTIFAMILY HOMES AND HOW THESE METERS WORK WITH LIKE APARTMENT COMPLEXES AND, AND CONDOS AND WHATNOT AND WHETHER THOSE ARE SOME OF THE PORTAL, PORTAL PORTAL USERS OR, OR WHAT.
AND YOUR QUESTION WAS IF, IF MULTIFAMILY FACILITIES CAN ACCESS THE PORTAL SIMILAR TO RESIDENTIAL? YES.
UM, AGAIN, IT IS BECOMING MORE, IT IS A LITTLE MORE CHALLENGING, UM, BECAUSE THEIR OFFICIAL BILLING MAY BE IN, IN ANOTHER CITY, THEIR OFFICIAL BILLING CONTACT, MAYBE SOMEONE ELSE WHO GETS AN EMAIL.
SO IT'S A CHALLENGE ON GETTING THAT FACILITY MANAGER, UH, THAT INFORMATION AS OPPOSED TO INFORMATION GOING TO SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE, THE BILLING DEPARTMENT.
SO THESE ARE A LOT OF GREAT QUESTIONS.
THAT WOULD BE, UM, IT'D BE GREAT TO BRING YOU ALL THE COMMUNICATIONS PRESENTATION THAT WE GAVE TO WATER AND WASTEWATER COMMISSION.
AND SO MARISA WILL WORK WITH THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR TO DO THAT.
AND THEN THIS IS, THIS IS ALL A GOOD THING TO DO 'CAUSE IT'S SAVING REAL WATER, BUT JUST WANTED TO MAKE THE POINT OR MAYBE HAVE Y'ALL CONFIRM IT THAT BECAUSE THESE LEAKS ARE ON THE CUSTOMER SIDE OF THE METER, THIS, THIS DOESN'T DO ANYTHING TO LOWER THE SYSTEM'S WATER LOSS OR THE ACCOUNTING FOR THE SYSTEM WATER LOSS.
BUT IT'S A GOOD THING TO DO, RIGHT? SAVES WATER.
ALRIGHT, UH, CONSERVATION OUTREACH MILESTONES THOUGH, THE CHANGE FROM THE LAST QUARTER IS THE FOURTH ONE DOWN.
CONDUCT PILOT OUTREACH ACTIVITIES TO LEARN THE BEST WAYS TO ENCOURAGE CUSTOMERS TO SAVE WATER.
UM, WE MOVED THAT TO COMPLETED, NOT THAT WE'RE DONE NOTIFYING, IT'S JUST WE'VE COMPLETED THE PILOTS AND WE WILL BE ANALYZING THE PILOT NOTIFICATIONS THAT WE CONDUCTED OVER THE SUMMER, UH, OVER THIS WINTER TO, TO LOOK FOR THOSE, UH, SAVINGS ESTIMATES FOR THOSE NOTIFICATIONS.
UM, BECAUSE AS IT WAS MENTIONED, THERE IS A, A GREAT OUTREACH, UH, PRESENTATION THAT WAS DONE BY AMY PETRI OR A PIO OFFICE.
UM, THEY COULD REALLY DIVE INTO THIS MORE ABOUT THESE NOTIFICATIONS TO CUSTOMERS IN THE SUMMER BASED ON THEIR MY ITX WATER.
SO HOPEFULLY BRING THAT FORWARD TO YOU SOMETIME.
THESE NEXT SEVERAL SLIDES INVOLVE THE WATER SUPPLY UPDATES, UH, WHICH YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A, AN AGENDA ITEM RIGHT AFTER THIS.
UM, SO I'LL GO BRIEFLY THROUGH THESE, BUT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, YOU MIGHT WANNA SAVE THEM, UH, FOR MARISSA AS WE DIVE INTO IT DEEPER.
UH, AS YOU CAN SEE ON THIS SLIDE, WE, THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER WE CONDUCTED A NUMBER OF OUTREACH ACTIVITIES IN BASTROP COUNTY, UH, IN BASTROP ELGIN SMITH VIEW AND PAGE.
UM, CONTINUE PLANNING FOR THE INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE, UH, LAKE WALTER LONG AND THE BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESAL.
UM, NO BARS HAVE MOVED SINCE THE LAST ONE.
UM, BUT UH, WE'LL HAVE MORE UPDATES IN THE NEXT AGENDA ITEM, NEXT SLIDE.
[00:55:02]
AND NOW WE GET TO GALLONS PER CAPITA DAILY.AND WHAT WAS THE GPCD FOR THIS LAST SUMMER? I'M HAPPY TO SAY THAT GPCD AND Q3 OF THIS YEAR WAS LOWER THAN IT WAS IN THE PREVIOUS THREE YEARS.
IT WAS 1 41, UM, BETWEEN JULY, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER.
UH, WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT ALL OF THAT WAS DUE TO OUR GREAT OUTREACH EFFORTS AND OUR, UM, ATTENTIVE ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS, BUT I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT PROBABLY SOME OF IT WAS DUE TO THE HISTORIC RAINFALL IN EARLY JULY.
CAN, CAN YOU GIVE US A PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT WE'RE PLANNING FOR THAT TO BE AS WE, YOU KNOW, FULLY IMPLEMENT OUR WATER FORWARD PLAN? UH, UH, CAN YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE IN TERMS OF UH, WHAT IT WILL BE IN OUR FIVE YEAR GOAL? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE ASKING? YES.
WELL, I MEAN WE HAVE A FIVE YEAR GOAL IS FINE THAT THAT WOULD BE INFORMATIVE.
BUT WE HAVE A WATER PLAN, WELL WATER FORWARD PLAN, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, A HUNDRED YEARS OUT.
I'M JUST CURIOUS, LIKE WHERE DOES 1 41 SIT VERSUS WHERE WE NEED THIS THING TO BE? WELL, OUR 2029 TOTAL GPCD GOAL IS ONE 19.
SO YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE'S A, A SIGNIFICANT WAY TO GO BETWEEN 1 41 AND ONE 19.
I'M NOT SURE IN TERMS OF THE WATER FORWARD PLAN, IF THERE'S NOT ANYTHING COULD BE SAID THE ONE 19 IS FOR THE FULL YEAR.
SO IT'D BE, SO TRADITIONALLY JUNE, WAS IT JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER WOULD BE THEIR HIGHEST MM-HMM
SO, WELL, CAN I JUST REITERATE WHAT TODD'S SAYING BECAUSE I WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ADDING THE REFERENCES TO THE CONSERVATION PLAN AND THE WATER FORWARD PLAN.
I HAVE BOTH OPEN RIGHT NOW AND IT'S VERY HELPFUL TO BE ABLE TO CHECK IN.
SO I APPRECIATE YOU DOING THAT, KEVIN.
BUT I, I WAS ALSO GONNA POINT OUT IN SECOND WHAT TODD'S SAYING, WHICH IS IF IN THIS SECTION WE HAD REFERENCES TO, I MEAN WE'VE GOT THE HISTORICAL GPCD, WHICH BY QUARTER, WHICH IS GREAT, BUT I THINK IF WE ALSO HAD WHAT WE'RE WORKING TOWARDS, LIKE WHAT WAS OUR, YOU KNOW, OUR 2019 GOAL WAS OUR LAST FIVE YEAR GOAL AND THEN OUR 2024 GOAL AND THEN A 2029 GOAL.
IS THAT CORRECT? SO THERE'S THREE ANYWAY.
WE HAVE A 2029 GOAL AND A 2034 GOAL IN THE CURRENT WATER CONSERVATION PLAN.
SO 1 21 IS THE 2029 GOAL AND ROBERT'S POINTING OUT THAT IT, IT DE DEPENDS ON THE TIME OF YEAR, BUT WE COULD BE HAVING, YOU KNOW, YOU COULD ALSO GIVE US LIKE OUR 2024 OVERALL NUMBER AND THEN SOME KIND OF SOMETHING TO TELL US THROUGHOUT THE PRESENTATION.
BUT PARTICULARLY HERE, ARE WE ON TRACK, ARE THINGS GOING THE RIGHT DIRECTION? HOW FAR OFF ARE WE? BECAUSE I THINK PART OF WHAT WE STRUGGLED WITH IN 2023 AND 24 WAS FINDING OUT HOW FAR OFF TRACK WE WERE FROM THE GOALS WE HAD SET AND TRYING TO FIGURE THAT OUT.
AS YOU NOTICE, KIND OF ABOVE THE BARS THERE, THEY HAVE THE ANNUAL ONES, THE LAST THREE YEARS HAVE BEEN 1 33, 1 30, 1 30.
UM, SO WE'VE DEFINITELY, WE'RE AT A, AT A PERIOD WHERE WE KIND OF PLATEAUED AT THAT ONE 30.
UM, SO HOPEFULLY WITH THIS, THIS SWEATER SUMMER WE'LL BE MOVING THAT DOWN A BIT TO, I DON'T KNOW, 1 26 TO 1 29.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ON GPCD? AND, AND WE'LL TAKE THOSE, UM, SUGGESTIONS.
UM, AND THAT'S, THAT'S A GOOD POINT ABOUT NOTING THE GOALS OF, OF WHAT WE'RE SHOOTING FOR.
CAN I ASK A QUESTION ABOUT THIS? UH, GALLONS PER CAPITA DAILY, UH, PEER CITIES, UH, MAYBE HOUSTON, DALLAS, SAN ANTONIO, SAN FRANCISCO.
I DON'T KNOW, IS THERE ANY DATA THAT YOU HAVE ABOUT THAT? WE CERTAINLY COULD PROVIDE PURE CITIES, GP, CDS? UM, UH, I DON'T RECALL THEM OFFHAND.
WHAT I DO RECALL IS IN TERMS OF SAN ANTONIO THAT THAT JUMP UP IN GPCD OVER THE HOT DRY YEARS, 20 22, 23, 24, THAT WAS, THAT WAS NOT UNCOMMON UM, FOR SAN ANTONIO ALSO HAD THAT JUMP UP IN THEIR GPCD ALSO DURING THOSE HOT DRY YEARS.
[01:00:01]
THINK THEY'VE EVEN, I'M NOT SURE IF THEY'VE COME DOWN, IT'S STILL VERY DRY IN SAN ANTONIO, BUT WE CAN PROVIDE OTHER CITY, UH, GP CDS TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHERE WE ARE.ONE THING THAT I THINK IS INTERESTING ABOUT THIS CHART IS THE DISAGGREGATION OF THE DEMAND BY CUSTOMER TYPE.
SO YOU KNOW, WE'RE TAKING THE TOTAL WATER USED AND DIVIDING IT ESSENTIALLY BY 1.1 MILLION PEOPLE TO GET GALLONS PER PERSON PER DAY.
AND THAT INCLUDES ALL OF, AND YOU JUMP IN ANYTIME KEVIN, BUT THAT INCLUDES ALL THE COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIAL, UM, ALL THE WATER USED IN OUR SYSTEM.
SO COMPARING US TO OTHER COMMUNITIES, UM, YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO LOOK AT IT THROUGH THE LENS OF EVERYONE'S SERVICE AREAS ARE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF WHAT THEIR UH, FRACTION OF CUSTOMER CLASSES, WHAT THEIR MAKEUP OF THEIR CUSTOMER CLASSES ARE IS.
IN HOUSTON, UM, STUDY, STUDY I WAS INVOLVED IN NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, A LITTLE LONG IN THE TOOTH, BUT HOUSTON HAS THE LOWEST GALLONS PER CAPITA PER PER DAILY OF THE MAJOR CITIES IN TEXAS.
AND AT THAT TIME THEY WERE DOING PRECIOUS LITTLE TO CONSERVE WATER 'CAUSE IT RAINS A LOT THERE.
SAN ANTONIO THOUGH SEEMS LIKE IT MIGHT BE A GOOD ONE TO COMPARE TO.
JUST, UH, JUST FOR THE REASONS KEVIN WAS MENTIONING 'CAUSE THEY'RE STRUGGLING WITH SOME OF THE SAME ISSUES WE ARE.
AND IF YOU, IF I CAN ENCOURAGE US TO GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, CAN I JUST ASK ONE QUESTION? SURE.
'CAUSE I HAD SUBMITTED THIS QUESTION I JUST WANTED TO SEE ON THE SLIDE 26, LIKE IN THIRD QUARTER 2024, THE SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL WAS 44 AND IN 2023 IT WAS 55.
UM, AND I WAS JUST WONDERING 'CAUSE I COULDN'T RECALL 2024, DID WE HAVE LIKE A METEOR UH, A PRECIPITATION EVENT LATE SUMMER? I THINK JULY WAS RAINING IN 2024.
I WAS JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY THAT WAS SIMILAR TO 2025.
UM, YEAH, I COULDN'T, I'M NOT SURE.
THAT IF WE LOOK AT THE, THE NEXT SLIDE, YOU KNOW, I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE SEE, FIRST OF ALL, THE THING THAT ALWAYS JUMPS OUT AT ME AT THIS SLIDE IS IRRIGATION USE FOR SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL IS THE, IS THE MAJOR DEMAND THAT CHANGES.
YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING ABOUT IT.
AND, AND WE KNOW THEREFORE THAT WEATHER IS THE BIGGEST PREDICTOR FOR A-G-P-C-D.
AND SO THAT'S THAT OUR OPPORTUNITY FOR, FOR INFLUENCING OUR GPCD, WE NEED TO DO ALL OF THE WATER CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES, ALL OF THEM.
AND OUR BIGGEST KNOB TO TURN IS OUTDOOR LAWN AND WATERING.
THAT'S WHY I'M ALWAYS FOCUSED ON THAT SINGLE FAMILY NUMBER.
'CAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT PUTTING DRINKING WATER ON THE GROUND.
AND THAT'S WHY IT'S LIKE WHAT IF YOU LOOK ALL THE WAY BACK AT 2018 WHEN WE WERE AT 1 21 AND THEN SORT OF GO THROUGH EACH YEAR IS DO WE HAVE A RATIONALIZATION OR LIKE WHERE ARE WE BEING EFFECTIVE IN PUSHING IT? AND THAT'S, UM, WELL I THINK I HAD EMAILED THE QUESTION ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON IN 2024 AND I'M JUST LOOKING AT RAINFALL DATA FROM THE AIRPORT.
UH, OR THIS IS FROM THE AUSTIN EXECUTIVE AIRPORT, UH, CAMP MAYBERRY.
UM, BUT IT DID LOOK LIKE WE RECEIVED, UH, THE MAJORITY OF OUR RAINFALL IN THE MONTH OF JULY.
AND THEN, UH, IN 2024 AND IN, UH, JULY, FROM WHAT I'M SEEING, WE HAD SEVERAL DAYS OF CONTINUOUS RAIN FROM JULY 18TH, 19TH, 21ST, 22ND, 23RD, 24TH, 25TH.
SO THAT PROBABLY HAD SOME INFLUENCE ON IRRIGATION PATTERNS.
I, I'LL, I'LL I'LL BRING THIS UP AGAIN AND, AND I THINK MOST OF THE FOLKS ON THIS COMMITTEE ARE TIRED OF ME BRINGING THIS UP.
BUT, UM, WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS DATA, I THINK THAT, I DON'T KNOW WHO MADE THE COMMENT, BUT THE, THE BIGGEST VARIABLE, YOU KNOW, YEAR OVER YEAR IS, YOU KNOW, IRRIGATION AT SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCES, AND THAT'S TIED TO WEATHER.
WE, WE CAN, WE CAN, WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH WATER, THE, THE, YOU KNOW, THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD NEEDS IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.
AND WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH WATER IS OPTIONAL BASED ON CHOICES OF LANDSCAPE.
UM, AND, AND I THINK THAT WE SHOULD EVALUATE, AUSTIN WATER
[01:05:01]
SHOULD EVALUATE WHETHER THERE'S A PRICING SCENARIO WHICH PROVIDES THE, THE CARROT FOR FOLKS TO GET RID OF THEIR LAWNS THAT REQUIRE, UM, SO MUCH WATER OR, UM, MAKE A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY FROM THOSE THAT DON'T CARE HOW MUCH THEY'RE SPENDING ON WATER THAT WE COULD THEN USE FOR OTHER PROGRAMS. AND SO I JUST ENCOURAGE US, I KNOW WE'VE NOT BEEN IN FAVOR OF KIND OF HIGHLY VARIABLE PRICING OF WATER.UM, AND, AND, AND, AND OBVIOUSLY WE DON'T WANNA PRICE OURSELVES OUT OF SUPPLYING WATER THAT PEOPLE NEED TO LIVE, BUT, BUT WE CAN SEE WHAT'S OPTIONAL HERE AND WE CAN CHANGE BEHAVIORS WITH INCENTIVES.
TASK FORCE MEMBER, THIS IS SHAY ROLLON.
UM, AND I WAS THE ONE MAKING THE COMMENTS ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF WEATHER.
AND SO I'LL JUST POINT OUT THAT, UM, WE DID A COST OF SERVICE STUDY IN 2024, UM, AND THAT, AND WE USE THAT TO UPDATE OUR RATE MODEL.
AND WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE, UH, TIERS THAT HEAVILY, UM, INCENTIVIZE PEOPLE TO USE LESS WATER.
WHEN YOU GET INTO TIERS FOUR AND FIVE, IT IS A SIGNIFICANT COST.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, OUR ABILITY TO, TO, I THINK WE ARE LEVERAGING OUR ABILITY TO USE CARROTS AND STICKS AND OUR RATE STRUCTURE, UM, TO THE EXTENT THAT WE CAN, UH, AND THAT WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO DEVELOP SOME OTHER TOOLS IN OUR TOOLBOX TO ACTUALLY INFLUENCE, UH, SOME FOLKS WATER USE.
ABOUT JUST BRINGING MORE PEOPLE INTO LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION, BRINGING AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.
IF THIS IS WHAT WE REALLY WANT TO HYPERFOCUS IN ON, THEN IT CAN'T JUST BE LIKE, HOPE WE PICK UP SOME PEOPLE NOW.
AND THEN THE REALLY, THE BAD ONES GET REWARDED FOR TRANSFORMING THEIR LANDSCAPE.
THIS NEEDS TO BE MORE OF A CONCERTED EFFORT TO SAY LIKE, ACTUALLY, LET'S GET EVERYONE ON BOARD.
EVERY, ALL THESE LITTLE NEIGHBORHOODS AROUND AUSTIN, WE NEED TO SEE THEIR LAWNS TRANSFORMING.
YEAH, I, I'LL JUST THROW IN IT.
THAT'S WHY WITHIN THE WATER FORWARD PLANT AND ALSO WITHIN THE WATER CONSERVATION PLAN, WE HAVE WATER BUDGETING AS A STRATEGY AND THE NEXT STEP AFTER WATER BENCHMARKING.
SO IT'S A STRATEGY WITHIN OUR PLAN THAT WE ARE STILL WANTING TO WORK TOWARDS, UM, GATHERING THE A MI DATA TO ESTABLISH WATER USE BENCHMARKS FOR DIFFERENT CUSTOMER SEGMENTS AND TYPES AND DEVELOPMENT TYPES.
AND THEN BEING ABLE TO ESTABLISH WATER BUDGETS THAT HAVE SOME SORT OF, UM, ELEMENT TO THEM THAT ENCOURAGES CONSERVATION AND MEETING YOUR WATER BUDGET, AND THEN THE SUITE OF CONSERVATION AND REUSE TOOLS AND INCENTIVES AND PROGRAMS THAT WE HAVE AVAILABLE.
BECOME YOUR MEANS TO BE ABLE TO MEET AND STAY WITHIN YOUR WATER BUDGET.
I MEAN, THAT IN MY MIND IS LIKE A BIG PICTURE VISION FOR LIKE, HOW WE GET TO OUR OVERALL GOALS IN THE FUTURE.
ARE, ARE LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION? MY GUESS IS NO, BUT LIKE IF SOMEBODY, SOMEBODY REDEVELOPS A A LOT, UM, INTO NEW CONSTRUCTION, COULD THEY EMPLOY THOSE FUNDS TO BE ENCOURAGED TO DO, YOU KNOW, ZERO ESCAPING OR, UH, IF IT'S GREENFIELD DEVELOPMENT, NO, WE DON'T HAVE ANY REBATE.
YOU KNOW, IF A DEVELOPER COMES IN, WE'RE NOT REBATE.
I'M GONNA CARRY JENNIFER WALKER'S FLAG BECAUSE, BECAUSE I SEE THE SAME THING IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE HOMES THAT DID NOT HAVE ANY OUTDOOR WATER IN AT ALL GET BULLDOZED BRAND NEW HOMES PUT IN WITH IRRIGATED ST.
UM, SO, SO I MEAN, THAT'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
LIKE, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE, YOU'RE, YOU'RE NOT SAVING WATER FROM WHAT IT WAS BEFORE, BUT YOU ARE SAVING WATER BECAUSE THEY'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND PUT IN THE BASIC ST.
AUGUSTINE HEAVILY IRRIGATED LANDSCAPE, WHICH, YOU KNOW, MAYBE YOU CAN USE FUNDS TO INCENTIVIZE BUILDERS TO NOT DO THAT, BUT, OH, ALTHOUGH FOR THE NEW HOMES, I WOULD MENTION REMIND YOU THAT WE DO HAVE THAT NEW UNIFORM PLUMBING CODE RESTRICTIONS THAT FOR NEW HOMES THEY CAN ONLY PUT IRRIGATED AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION IN 50% OF THE LOT.
UM, SO IT'S, WE'RE NOT 50% OF THE LOT OR 50% OF WHAT'S LEFT OVER FROM THE LOT.
IT'S CONSTRUCTION, IT'S 50% OF THE LANDSCAPED AREA AND WE ARE DEFINING LANDSCAPE AREAS, THE TOTAL LOT AREA MINUS IMPERVIOUS COVER AREA, THE HOUSE, THE DRIVEWAY, SIDEWALK MM-HMM
WHAT HAVE YOU, WHAT'S LEFT OVER 50% OF THAT WITH A FEW OTHER EXCEPTIONAL DETAILS.
SO, UM, WE'RE GONNA HAVE A NEW DATA SET IN ADDITION TO THE JWDI, WHICH KEVIN LIKES TO REFER TO THE JENNIFER WALK, JENNIFER WALKER DOG WALKING INDEX.
SO GUESS WHAT? GET READY FOR THE S-F-W-D-I.
UM, BUT TO YOUR POINT EXACTLY, THERE IS A HOUSE, A NEW BUILD IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE WE GET A LOT OF TEAR DOWNS IN NEW BUILDS.
I'M SURE IT'S DRIP IRRIGATION, BUT IT WENT FROM NO IRRIGATION
[01:10:01]
TO A BRAND NEW HOUSE TO A ZERO ESCAPED FRONT YARD, WHICH I'M SURE THESE PLANTS ARE DRIP 'CAUSE THEY'VE, YOU KNOW, THEY HAVE SOMETHING, THEY'RE WELL ESTABLISHED.UM, AND I WOULD LOVE IT IF THERE WAS, AND I WALK, WE WALK BY IT AND I THINK ABOUT LIKE, HOW DO WE PROMOTE THIS LOOK TO BUILDERS BECAUSE THERE'S ONLY LITERALLY A HANDFUL OF BUILDERS THAT ARE DOING HOUSES IN THIS AREA.
I MEAN, I CAN TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE.
UH, THEY LIKE IT, THEY DO A LOT OF PROJECTS THERE.
ALMOST ALL OF THEM HAVE A POOL AND TURF GRASS WITH IRRIGATION, HUGE SWATHS OF GRASS.
AND SO IT'S LIKE, RIGHT, HOW DO WE PROMOTE THIS, INCENTIVIZE THIS, IT SHOULD HAVE A GIANT SIGN IN FRONT THAT SAYS, LIKE THIS HOUSE, I MEAN, IT'S NOT SAVING WATER FROM BEFORE, BUT IT'S SAVING WATER OVER EVERY OTHER PROJECT LIKE IT BEING PUT IN YOU, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, WITH, UM, WITH WITH ELECTRICITY USAGE, THERE'S THE LEAD CERTIFICATION.
IS THERE SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THAT THAT WE COULD BE TRYING TO CREATE HERE OR LEVERAGE? I BELIEVE THERE'S A US UM, EPA WATER SENSE SCORE, BUT I I, I THINK EVEN ALSO THAT DOESN SOUND, THAT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A GREAT ACRONYM.
AND
MAYBE SOMETHING FOR US TO THINK ABOUT IS THERE, IS THERE A CATCHY ACRONYM THAT WE CAN COME UP WITH? IS THERE, YOU KNOW, A SET OF DESIGN CRITERIA THAT HELP FOLKS ACHIEVE A SCORE THAT ALLOWS THEM TO BECOME CERTIFIED BUILDERS SEEM TO REALLY BRAG ABOUT THAT LEAD CERTIFICATION AND, AND MAYBE THERE'S SOMETHING WE NEED TO BE DOING THERE.
AND I JUST NOTE ON IN THE MOST IMMEDIATE, UH, ACTIONS THAT WE'RE TAKING, REALLY FOCUS WHILE WE'RE FOCUSING ON LANDSCAPE, WE'RE ALSO FOCUSING A LOT ON IRRIGATIONS.
I MENTIONED WHETHER THAT UNIFORM PLUMBING CODE, WE'RE HAVING REQUIREMENTS THAT WILL MAKE THE IRRIGATION SYSTEMS MORE EFFICIENT THAN THEY EVER HAVE.
SIMPLY DOING INSPECTIONS ON IRRIGATION SYSTEMS WILL GIVE EACH OF THOSE HOMEOWNERS A MUCH BETTER IRRIGATION SYSTEM AND SAVE MUCH MORE MODERN THAN THEY EVER WOULD HAVE BEFORE.
SO THOSE IRRIGATION INSPECTIONS, THE NEW COMPONENTS THAT WE'RE REQUIRING IRRIGATION SYSTEMS AND NOTIFYING IRRIGATORS, UM, THROUGH OUR MI TX SYSTEM TO HELP THEM HAVE A MORE EFFICIENT WAY OF RUNNING THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM, SUCH AS SENDING OUT RAIN DAY ALERTS IF WE GET A BIG PRECIPITATION EVENT.
ONE OF THE THINGS WE PILOTED OVER THIS LAST SUMMER IS TO EMAIL ALL THE, UH, IRRIGATING CUSTOMERS.
SO WE HAD EMAILS TOO AND SAY, LISTEN, WE HAD A BIG RAIN, YOU DON'T NEED TO RUN YOUR SYSTEM THIS WEEK.
UM, AND WE GOT SOME GOOD RESPONSE FROM THAT.
SO ENGAGING WITH THOSE IRRIGATORS, UM, I THINK WILL ALSO BE A WAY TO LOWER THEIR CONSUMPTION OF WATER.
ANYTHING ELSE? OKAY, NEXT SLIDE.
UM, JUST MOVING FORWARD, SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE GONNA BE DOING IN Q4, WHICH WE ARE IN RIGHT NOW, UM, WE'RE GONNA BE SHIFTING OUR EFFORTS, UH, TO A DEGREE MORE TOWARDS WINTER PREP AND WASTEWATER AVERAGING, HELPING CUSTOMERS REALIZE THAT THE WATER THEY SAVE NOW WILL SAVE THEM MONEY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR THROUGH WASTEWATER CHA WASTEWATER CHARGES.
WE'RE GONNA BE LAUNCHING A LAUNDRY TO LANDSCAPE, UM, ASSISTANCE, UH, COM INFORMATION, LET ME PUT IT THAT WAY.
UH, WE ALREADY HAVE A NEW LAUNDRY TO LANDSCAPE GRAYWATER GUIDE UP ON OUR WEBSITE, AND WE'RE GOING TO BE DISTRIBUTING MATERIALS FOR LAUNDRY TO LANDSCAPE TO ALL THE LIBRARY BRANCHES.
UM, AND, AND, UH, WORKING WITH DSE TO MAKE SURE THAT NEW HOMES ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE LAUNDRY LANDSCAPE PLUMBING IN THEM.
SO OVER THE NEXT YEAR, DSD WILL BE IMPLEMENTING THAT.
AND I THINK THAT IS IT ON THE SLIDE, OH, I'M SORRY.
A FEW SMALL NOTE OR SMALL FONT NOTES REGARDING DATA, UM, THAT WE'VE SEEN BEFORE.
ANYTHING ELSE? WELL, THANK YOU, UM, YOU AND YOUR TEAM FOR PUTTING THIS TOGETHER.
I THINK THIS IS A VERY IMPRESSIVE SUMMARY OF LIKE, WHERE WE'RE THIS, THIS STUFF AND ALSO APPRECIATE, UM, HOW RECEPTIVE Y'ALL ARE TO COMMENTS WE'VE MADE TO MAKE THIS AS HELPFUL AS POSSIBLE.
BUT YEAH, THIS IS A REALLY NICE, IMPRESSIVE WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT'S GOING ON.
WE APPRECIATE ALL THE COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING IT BETTER.
WE, UM, I THINK KEVIN HAS, HAS LOOKED FOR EXAMPLES OF OTHER UTILITIES THAT ARE DOING THIS KIND OF REPORTING AND NOT FOUND ANY
[01:15:01]
REALLY HELPFUL, UH, CERTAINLY FOR ME.UM, AND SO I'M GLAD TO HEAR THAT IT'S HELPFUL FOR YOU TOO AND, AND KEEP THE SUGGESTIONS COMING.
WE WANNA MAKE IT AS ROBUST AS POSSIBLE.
AND IF YOU DO LIFE COACHING, MAYBE I, I MIGHT HIRE YOU
[4. Staff briefing regarding Water Forward 2024 water supply strategies, including implementation of Austin Water’s aquifer storage and recovery project. Presentation by Marisa Flores Gonzalez, Water Resources Team Supervisor, Austin Water. ]
SO GOING TO MOVE ON TO, UM, ITEM FOUR STAFF BRIEFING REGARDING WATER FORWARD 2024 WATER SUPPLY STRATEGIES, INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATION OF AUSTIN WATERS AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY PROJECTS.UM, AND MARISA IS GOING TO GIVE THAT PRESENTATION, AND ACTUALLY I THINK SHEA'S GONNA KICK US OFF WITH SOME OPENING REMARKS.
SO AGAIN, SHEA ROLLON, DIRECTOR OF AUSTIN WATER.
UM, AND BEFORE, UM, MARISA LAUNCHES INTO THE PRESENTATION, I JUST WANTED TO MAKE A FEW COMMENTS.
UM, SO YOU ALL ARE AWARE THAT THE DRAFT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH BASTROP COUNTY ENTITIES TO ADVANCE FIELD TESTING FOR A POSSIBLE FUTURE AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY PROJECT IN BASTROP COUNTY WAS WITHDRAWN FROM AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ON NOVEMBER 20TH.
UH, SO AUSTIN WATER IS NOT PURSUING FIELD TESTING FOR A SR IN BASTROP COUNTY.
UM, WE WORKED DILIGENTLY TO CREATE THE COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH THE GOAL OF CREATING A PATH FORWARD FOR THAT PROJECT IN BASTROP COUNTY TO PURSUE THAT PROJECT WITH A GOOD NEIGHBOR APPROACH THAT WOULD PROVIDE PROTECTIONS AND BENEFITS FOR THE BASTROP COUNTY COMMUNITY.
BUT IN THE END, WE DID NOT REACH THE LEVEL OF PARTNERSHIP THAT WOULD BE NEEDED, UM, FOR THE PROJECT'S SUCCESS.
SO AS A RESULT, THE BEST PATH PATH FORWARD WAS TO WITHDRAW THE AGREEMENT AND ALLOW AUSTIN WATER, UH, TO, UH, FOCUS ON THE ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES IN OUR 100 YEAR WATER SUPPLY PLAN.
UM, AND AS YOU ALL VERY WELL KNOW, WATER FORWARD IS AN ADAPTIVE LONG RANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN.
UM, IT'S FOUNDED ON WATER CONSERVATION EXPANSION OF RECLAIMED WATER USE, REDUCTION IN WATER LOSS, WHICH WE JUST HEARD A LOT ABOUT THOSE EFFORTS FROM KEVIN KLUGE PRESENTATION.
AND THOSE STRATEGIES GIVE US TIME TO DEVELOP THE WATER SUPPLY STRATEGIES OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS FOR THE LONG TERM.
AND OUR COMPREHENSIVE WATER SUPPLY PLAN ALLOWS US TO ADAPT OUR PROJECTS IN RESPONSE TO CHANGING INFORMATION OR CONDITIONS, AND WE CAN ACCELERATE PROJECTS IN OUR PORTFOLIO AS NECESSARY.
SO YOU'RE GONNA HEAR UPDATES FROM MARISA NOW ABOUT THAT COMPREHENSIVE WORK THAT THEY ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN TO IMPLEMENT THE WATER SUPPLY STRATEGIES AND THE WATER FORWARD PLAN.
AND WHILE WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK IN FRONT OF US, UM, WE CAN ALL BE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT AUSTIN'S WATER FUTURE, AND WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT AND PARTNERSHIP IN THIS WORK.
WE, WE OBVIOUSLY WE'RE ALL WATCHING FROM AFAR AS YOU, UM, BATTLED FOR THAT PROGRAM.
UM, I'M SURE IT WAS, UM, TAXING, EXHAUSTING ALL, ALL KINDS OF ADJECTIVES WE CAN COME UP WITH, UM, AND, AND FRUSTRATING FOR YOU, UM, AND THE TEAM.
SO WE APPRECIATE THE EFFORTS TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.
D DOES THAT MEAN AS WE THINK ABOUT OUR, OUR GO FORWARD PLAN, THAT A SR IS COMPLETELY OFF THE TABLE? OR DOES THAT MEAN THAT WE'RE, YOU KNOW, KIND OF JUST PUSHING THE PAUSE BUTTON UNTIL, UH, MAYBE WE CAN REACH A NEW SET OF COLLABORATIVE, UH, DISCUSSIONS OR HOW, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT AS R SHOULD BE PART OF OUR A HUNDRED YEAR PLAN? UM, STILL SO ASRS, UM, IS DEFINITELY STILL IN THE PLAN, AND MARISA IS GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT IN MORE DETAIL, WHAT THAT MAY LOOK LIKE GOING FORWARD NOW.
UM, AND I WOULD ALSO SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, COLLABORATING REGIONALLY IS, IS A BIG PART OF WHO AUSTIN WATER IS AS AN ORGANIZATION.
WE'RE, UM, YOU KNOW, AN ACTIVE MEMBER IN THE, IN THE REGION K UH, STATE WATER PLANNING PROCESS.
AND WE, UM, HAVE BEEN, UH, COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS WITH THE ENTITIES ACROSS OUR REGION AND AROUND AUSTIN FOREVER, UH, EVER FOR A LONG, LONG TIME.
AND THAT, THAT WILL CONTINUE AS WELL.
SO THE KINDS OF PROJECTS THAT WE MOVE FORWARD WITH, UH, MAY LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT AND WE'RE GONNA HEAR SOME MORE ABOUT THAT FROM MARISA.
BUT, UM, CERTAINLY WE CONTINUE TO, UH, TO PARTNER REGIONALLY.
UM, AND, AND, AND ALSO THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS I'M REALLY PROUD OF, OF OUR STAFF AND THE EFFORTS THAT THEY PUT FORWARD AND THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT THEY BUILT.
UM, THOSE WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE FUTURE OF, OF WATER SUPPLY IN CENTRAL TEXAS.
AND, AND, UH, SO THAT, THAT WORK, THE, WHILE IT WAS, UM, DIFFICULT, UM, IT WAS VERY MUCH WORK WORTH DOING.
SO IT'S, UM, I'M, I'M PROUD OF THE TEAM FOR EVERYTHING THEY ACCOMPLISHED.
UH, SO WE CAN GO AHEAD AND MOVE TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
[01:20:02]
OKAY.SO AS A PART OF THIS PRESENTATION, WE'LL BE PROVIDING AN OVERVIEW OF THE WATER SUPPLY STRATEGIES THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THE WATER FORWARD 2024 PLAN.
WE WILL, UM, UH, REVISIT OUR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH, WHICH JAY ALREADY DID A, A REALLY GOOD JOB OF DESCRIBING.
AND THEN WE'LL PROVIDE, UH, WATER FORWARD 24 YEAR ONE IMPLEMENTATION UPDATES BY EACH INDIVIDUAL STRATEGY AND CONCLUDE WITH SOME HIGH LEVEL NEXT STEPS.
WE CAN MOVE TO THE NEXT SLIDE AND NEXT SLIDE.
SO THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE WATER FORWARD 2024 PORTFOLIO OVERALL.
THIS INCLUDES THE STRATEGIES THAT WE HAVE OUTLINED AS BEING INCLUDED IN THE THIS PORTFOLIO THROUGH 2080.
UM, ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN ARE WATER SUPPLY STRATEGIES, INCLUDING WATER SUPPLY STORAGE STRATEGIES LIKE AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY, AND USE OF LAKE LONG AS A WATER AND ONCHAN RESERVOIR, AS WELL AS POTABLE REUSE STRATEGIES LIKE INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE.
RIGHT NOW IN THE WATER FORWARD PLAN, WE HAVE AN IPR OR INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE STRATEGY THROUGH LADYBIRD LAKE.
THESE THREE STRATEGIES ARE RELIANT ON OUR COLORADO RIVER AND LCRA SUPPLIES, AND HELP US TO STRETCH THOSE SUPPLIES.
BELOW THAT WE ALSO HAVE A NEW WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY CALLED BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESALINATION.
UM, THIS IS NOT RELIANT ON OUR COLORADO RIVER AND LCRA SUPPLIES AND WOULD BE BRINGING IN NEW SUPPLIES BEYOND THAT.
SO, AS INITIALLY LAID OUT WITHIN THE WATER FORWARD 2024 PLAN FOR EACH OF THESE STRATEGIES, WE IDENTIFIED A TARGET YIELD BY DECADE, UH, AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY, AND LAKE LONG IN 2040, A UPWARD TARGETED TO YIELD FORTY FOUR THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED ACRE FEET RESPECTIVELY.
INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE HAS SEVERAL STARS IN BOTH THE 2030 AND 2040 DECADES BECAUSE THAT STRATEGY COULD BE BROUGHT ON FASTER IF NEEDED DURING AN EMERGENCY SITUATION.
UM, OUTSIDE OF AN EMERGENCY SITUATION, IT WAS INTENDED TO BE BROUGHT ON BY 2050 AT AN AMOUNT, UH, SUPPLYING UP TO 22,400 ACRE FEET PER YEAR, ONLY USED DURING LOW PERIODS OF COMBINED STORAGE.
AND THEN BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESALINATION WAS ORIGINALLY TARGETED AS COMING ONLINE IN 2070 TO YIELD 20,000 ACRE FEET PER YEAR.
I'LL THINK TWICE BEFORE INCLUDING THOSE SLIDES.
UM, AS A PART OF THAT APPROACH, WE UPDATE THE PLAN EVERY FIVE YEARS TO, UM, INCORPORATE NEW DATA, NEW INFORMATION TO UPDATE OUR METHODOLOGIES AND TO BE ABLE TO ADAPT OUR PLANS AS NECESSARY.
BETWEEN THE FIVE YEAR UPDATES, WE IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES FROM THE PLAN, WE EVALUATE THEIR EFFECTIVENESS, UM, AND THEIR FEASIBILITY, AND WE ADJUST STRATEGIES AS NECESSARY.
AND BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT OUR INITIAL PLANS FOR STRATEGIES MAY NOT TURN OUT THE WAY THAT WE THINK THEY WILL, WE'RE ALWAYS PLANNING ALTERNATE PATHWAYS TO RESPOND TO LESSONS LEARNED AS WE IMPLEMENT, AS WELL AS CHANGING CONDITIONS.
UM, A SR AND THE OUTCOME OF THE BASTROP FIELD TESTING IS ONE EXAMPLE OF US, UM, NEEDING TO ADAPT BECAUSE OF CHANGING CONDITIONS.
AND NOW WE GET TO IMPLEMENT LESSONS LEARNED FROM THAT EXERCISE INTO HOW WE MOVE FORWARD.
UH, THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE WATER FORWARD 2024 PLAN.
IT'S FAIRLY HIGH LEVEL, BUT IT DOES LAY OUT SOME METRICS THAT WE INTENDED TO CONSIDER AS WE IMPLEMENTED STRATEGIES WE WANT TO, WANTED TO KEEP TRACK OF ANNUAL STRATEGY YIELDS AND WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE MEETING TARGET LEVELS.
WE SAID IF ANNUAL STRATEGY YIELDS FELL BELOW TARGET LEVELS FOR TWO YEARS IN A ROW, THEN WE COULD IMPLEMENT POSSIBLE ADAPT, UH, ADAPTATION ACTIONS.
IN ADDITION, WE WANTED TO MONITOR STRATEGY, IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS.
SO MUCH OF WHAT YOU SEE WITHIN THE QUARTERLY WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY REPORTS AND THOSE BARS THAT PROGRESS, UM, ACROSS THOSE, UH, TIME STEPS, WE WANTED TO MONITOR THOSE MILESTONES AND SEE WHETHER OR NOT OUR PROGRESS WAS FALLING BEHIND THE ACTION TIMELINES THAT WE HAD LAID OUT WITHIN THE WATER FORWARD PLAN.
GENERALLY, THE ACTIONS, UM, ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION, AND THEN WE ALSO WANTED TO MONITOR COMBINED LAKE STORAGE.
UM, AND WHEN COMBINED LAKE STORAGE FELL BELOW 750,000 ACRE FEET
[01:25:01]
FOR FOUR MONTHS OR LONGER, THEN THAT COULD TRIGGER US TO IMPLEMENT, UM, AADA ADAPTATION ACTIONS AS WELL.I WANNA SAY ADAPTIVE ACTIONS
UM, BUT SOME OF OUR POSSIBLE ADAPTATION ACTIONS OR THEN LAID OUT ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS SLIDE, IDENTIFYING SUPPLY PROJECT DELIVERY METHODS AND TASKS THAT CAN BE ACCELERATED, EVALUATING POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE SUPPLY PROJECT CONFIGURATIONS OR APPROACHES, ACCELERATING IMPLEMENTATION OF EMERGENCY SUPPLY STRATEGIES OR REEVALUATING STAFFING AND FUNDING LEVELS FOR PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS TO BE ABLE TO BRING THEM BACK ON TRACK.
UM, THESE ARE THE TYPES OF ACTIONS AND APPROACHES THAT WE'RE WANTING TO UTILIZE AS WE'RE IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES DURING THESE FIVE YEARS BEFORE WE GET TO WATER FORWARD 2029, WHICH IS COMING FASTER THAN WE THINK.
WE'LL GO AHEAD AND WE'LL START WITH AN UPDATE ON AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY.
BUT WE'LL START WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATEGY AS A WHOLE.
JUST AS A REMINDER, A SR IS A METHOD OF SAFELY STORING WATER IN AN AQUIFER, A NATURALLY OCCURRING AQUIFER TO USE LATER.
UM, WE WOULD SOURCE WATER FROM THE CITY'S EXISTING WATER SUPPLIES FROM THE COLORADO RIVER AND THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
WE DIVERT THAT WATER AT THE CITY'S WATER TREATMENT PLANTS AND TREAT IT TO POTABLE DRINKING WATER STANDARDS.
THEN THAT WATER WOULD BE CONVEYED VIA A TRANSMISSION PIPELINE TO A WATER QUALITY COMPATIBILITY FACILITY WHERE THE WATER WOULD BE FURTHER CONDITIONED TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH THE NATIVE GROUNDWATER IN THE AQUIFER.
AND THEN WATER WOULD BE PUMPED UNDERGROUND AND STORED, UM, PER ANY, UM, UH, AUTHORIZATION WITH TCAQ.
MORE WATER WOULD ALWAYS BE ADDED TO THE AQUIFER THAN WOULD BE USED AS A PART OF ANY A SR PROJECT.
SO, AS SHEA MENTIONED ON NOVEMBER 20TH, UH, THE COUNCIL ITEM TO CONSIDER THE BASTROP COUNTY A SR COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WAS WITHDRAWN.
SO FIELD TESTING FOR AN A SR PROJECT IN BASTROP COUNTY WILL NOT PROCEED.
HOWEVER, AUSTIN WATER WILL CONTINUE TO EVALUATE OTHER OPTIONS FOR FIELD TESTING FOR A POSSIBLE A SR PROJECT.
AND OUR NEAR TERM PLANS INCLUDE FIELD TESTING IN EASTERN TRAVIS COUNTY AND THE TRINITY AQUIFER ON LAND THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN ALREADY OWNS.
UM, I'LL GO AHEAD AND GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
AND THEN NOW OUR PLANS FOR FIELD TESTING WILL ALIGN WITH INFORMATION WE CAN GATHER TO, UM, FURTHER A BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESALINATION STRATEGY.
IF YOU REMEMBER, BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESALINATION WAS INTENDED AS A STRATEGY TO PROVIDE YIELD BY 2070, AND OUR PLANS NOW INCLUDE POSSIBLE ACCELERATION OF THIS STRATEGY, UH, UH, TO DESCRIBE THE STRATEGY, IT INVOLVES THE WITHDRAWAL OF BRACKISH OR SALTY GROUNDWATER FROM DEEP UNDERGROUND WATER WOULD BE TREATED BY ADVANCED PROCESSES SUCH AS REVERSE OSMOSIS TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH AUSTIN'S DRINKING WATER.
UM, AN EXAMPLE WATER DESALINATION PROCESS IS SHOWN AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN WHERE THE BRACKISH OR SALTY WATER IS PUSHED AT VERY HIGH PRESSURES THROUGH A SEMI-PERMEABLE ME MEMBRANE.
AND THE SALT CONTENT IS REMOVED FROM THE FRESH WATER.
THE FRESH WATER IS THEN FURTHER CONDITIONED TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH POTABLE DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES.
THE TREATMENT PROCESS DOES CREATE A SALTY BYPRODUCT OR BRINE THAT REQUIRES DISPOSAL IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATE REGULATIONS.
YOU HAD ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT THE OPTIONS THAT ARE UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR, UM, BRINE DISPOSAL.
THE BRINE DISCHARGE, UM, THAT WE MENTIONED FROM A A, A REVERSE OSMOSIS PROCESS, UM, CAN HAVE SALT CONCENTRATIONS THAT ARE FOUR TO 10 TIMES HIGHER THAN THE ORIGINAL BRACKISH GROUNDWATER.
UM, SO THE DISPOSAL OF THAT BRINE IS, UH, TRICKY.
UM, THE METHODS THAT HAVE BEEN USED IN THE PAST FOR BRACKISH, UH, GROUNDWATER DESAL INCLUDE SURFACE WATER DISCHARGE DISCHARGE INTO, UM, WASTEWATER COLLECTION SYSTEMS, DEEP WALL INJECTION, EVAPORATION PONDS, UH, LAND APPLICATION OR NEWER METHODS, UM, THAT ARE REFERRED TO AS ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE.
UM, ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE IS A PROCESS THAT'S INTENDING TO REDUCE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE THE AMOUNT OF, OF LIQUID OR WATER THAT'S CONTAINED WITHIN THAT DISCHARGE AND TO JUST PRODUCE THE, UM, THE, UH, SOLIDS, ESSENTIALLY THE SALT PRODUCT
[01:30:01]
THAT SOMETIMES THERE ARE, UM, UH, SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL METHODS THAT ARE UTILIZED TO DISPOSE OF WHAT'S LEFT.UM, AND THEN THERE ARE OTHER PROCESSES THAT I'M NOT AS FAMILIAR WITH, BUT WE WILL BECOME MORE FAMILIAR WITH AS WE FURTHER STUDY THIS OPTION, UM, THAT SEEK TO, UM, TURN THOSE SOLIDS INTO A PRODUCT THAT THEN IT COULD BE PURCHASED OR REUSED BY, UM, CERTAIN COMPANIES OR INDUSTRIES.
SO THESE ARE ALL METHODS THAT WILL BE EVALUATED AS A PART OF OUR FURTHER STUDY OF BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESAL.
RIGHT NOW, WE DON'T HAVE A PARTICULAR METHOD THAT THE CITY HAS IDENTIFIED, UM, BECAUSE WE ALSO HAVEN'T DONE THE FIELD TESTING AND WE HAVEN'T IDENTIFIED KIND OF THE, THE TREATMENT PROCESSES AND, UM, THE, UH, QUALITY OF WATER THAT ULTIMATELY WE WOULD BE DISPOSING OF.
MARISSA, IS THIS SOMETHING THAT WE COULD DO WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF AUSTIN WATERS OR CRA'S, UM, INFLUENCE AS OPPOSED TO HAVING TO COORDINATE WITH OTHER COUNTIES OR MUNICIPALITIES? RIGHT.
SO THE FIELD, THE AREAS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT FOR FIELD TESTING AND FOR POSSIBLE BRACKISH GROUNDWATER PRODUCTION ARE WITHIN TRAVIS COUNTY.
UM, THEY ARE WITHIN THE FIVE MILE A TJ OR EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
UM, THESE PROPERTIES ARE, UM, THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT INITIALLY ARE ALREADY OWNED BY THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
THEY HAVE VARIOUS STEWARD DEPARTMENTS.
AND SO WE'RE IN CONVERSATIONS WITH THOSE STEWARD DEPARTMENTS, UM, INCLUDING OURSELVES, UM, ON HOW WE'LL PROCEED WITH THE, THE TESTING AND KIND OF THE POSSIBLE THE POSSIBILITIES ABOUT, UM, SITING PROJECTS IN THESE LOCATIONS.
BUT AS WE'VE DISCUSSED PREVIOUSLY, UM, WITH, UH, IN REGARDS TO A SR, THE SURFACE FOOTPRINT OF THESE PROJECTS CAN BE RELATIVELY MINOR.
UM, AND SO THERE COULD BE THE, UH, POSSIBILITY OF, OF CO-LOCATING MULTIPLE KIND OF CITY PURPOSES AND FACILITIES, UM, ON THE LAND THAT WE ALREADY OWN.
UM, CLEARLY THIS IS NOT BRAND NEW TECHNOLOGY.
IS THIS IN USE SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS WHERE IT'S WORKING? YES, THERE ARE, UM, MULTIPLE OTHER CITIES.
SOME OF THE BIG, UH, CITIES THAT COME TO MIND INCLUDE, UM, SAN ANTONIO WATER SYSTEM.
THEY HAVE, UH, AT THEIR H TWO OAKS FACILITY CO-LOCATED AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY AND BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESAL PROJECT.
UM, AND THEN EL PASO HAS, UM, THE LARGEST INLAND SEAWATER, OR SEE THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.
UM, AND THEY'VE BEEN PRODUCING, UM, BRACKISH DE CELL FOR MANY, MANY YEARS.
SO, SO IF YOU LOOK AT OUR PLAN, IT'S THE MOST, WELL, YEAH, NOT THE MOST EXPENSIVE, BUT $2,688 PER ACRE FOOT.
SO, CAN I, CAN I JUST GO BACK REALLY QUICKLY? I ASKED THE QUESTION ABOUT THE BRINE DISPOSAL BECAUSE THIS IS AN AREA THAT I'VE WORKED IN ON DISCHARGE PERMITS FOR BRINE DISPOSAL, AND IT IS IN FACT QUITE COMPLICATED, CAN BE QUITE TIME CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE, AND IT CAN ULTIMATELY BE THE ACHILLES HEEL OF YOUR PROJECT.
UM, WHICH IS WHY I'M SAYING, AND, AND THE OTHER THING ABOUT THAT IS, UH, ONE OF THOSE WHERE PEOPLE MAKE A LITTLE COMMENT ONE TIME, BUT IT STICKS WITH YOU FOREVER, IS THE CEO OR PRESIDENT, I CAN'T REMEMBER HIS TITLE OF THE EL PASO WATER UTILITY SAYING EVERYBODY MAKES MAPS OF WHERE YOU CAN DO, UM, DESALINATION, BRACKISH GROUNDWATER ASSOCIATION.
EVERYBODY LIKES TO TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS.
THEY SHOULD START WITH WHAT THEY'RE GONNA DO WITH THE BRINE UHHUH
AND THAT'S REALLY A BIG CHALLENGE IN PARTICULAR, LIKE OF THE STRATEGIES YOU LISTED SURFACE WATER DISCHARGE, WE'RE NOT DOING THAT HERE.
RIGHT? SO LET'S TAKE THAT OFF THE LIST RIGHT.
AND THEN WORK THROUGH WHAT'S REMAINING THAT'S FEASIBLE.
UM, SO JUST TRYING TO EMPHASIZE THAT POINT.
'CAUSE IT'S, IT IS CRITICAL AND IT'S A BIG ENERGY USER.
SOME OF THE OPTIONS YOU LISTED AS WELL.
I THINK THAT'S A GREAT POINT AND SOMETHING FOR US TO REALLY, REALLY CONSIDER IN THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS STRATEGY OVERALL.
THAT WAS ONE OF THE NICE THINGS ABOUT HAVING IT IN OUR PLAN COMING IN IN 2070, WAS TO GIVE IT REALLY TIME TO MATURE AND GET LESS EXPENSIVE AND HAVE THE BUYING DISPOSAL OPTIONS BECOME MORE, UM, WELL UNDERSTOOD.
SO IS THE, THE ASSERTION HERE IS THAT WE'RE MOVING THIS FORWARD SOONER BECAUSE OF THE STATUS OF THE A SR? WELL, YES.
SO LET'S MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
[01:35:01]
I THINK HANNAH HAS A QUESTION.I HAVE A QUESTION BEFORE WE, UH, WE GO FURTHER.
SO HAS ANYBODY LOOKED INTO, UM, UM, INTO THE DEEP WELL INJECTION IN EDWARD'S AQUIFER OR EVEN, I MEAN, THERE ARE RESTRICTIONS, UH, IN THE EDWARDS AQUIFER IF WE'RE LOOKING AT, UM, AT, AT GETTING A GROUNDWATER DESAL MM-HMM
RIGHT? HAVE YOU ALL LOOKED INTO THAT? SO WE, UM, TO, TO CLARIFY, WE WOULD BE LOOKING IN THE EASTERN PORTION OF TRAVIS COUNTY.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT AN AREA THAT IS, UM, OUTSIDE OF WHAT YOU MIGHT CONSIDER OF THE, OR THE EDWARDS AQUIFER RECHARGE ZONE THAT'S TYPICALLY IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF, OF TRAVIS COUNTY.
UM, THE AREAS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT WOULD BE WITHIN THE TRINITY AQUIFER.
AND THE, UH, IT'S IN A LOWER TRINITY.
IT'S WITHIN THE LOWER TRINITY.
SO WE'RE ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THE HOSTIN.
UM, THE HOSTIN IS, UM, A, A LAYER KIND OF CONSISTS OF A MIXTURE OF LIKE SAND SIL STONE SHALE CONGLOMERATES.
UM, THE WATER THAT'S IN THIS LAYER, I'M JUST PROVIDING THIS FOR A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT.
THE WATER THAT'S IN THIS LAYER IS CONSIDERED, CAN BE CONSIDERED, UM, FROM SLIGHTLY TO MODERATELY SALINE, BUT IT'S VERY CONTEXT SPECIFIC.
UM, THE WATER TENDS TO MOVE SLOWLY WITHIN THIS AQUIFER LAYER.
AND THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT CAN BE RECOVERED FROM WELL PUMPING IN THIS LAYER TENDS TO BE LOWER THAN WELL, UM, IN, LET'S SAY, FOR EXAMPLE, THE BASTROP COUNTY RESOURCE SIMSBORO AQUIFER LAYERS.
UM, THOUGH THE CARONE SIMS PERME, UH, PERME ABILITIES ARE MAYBE THREE TO FIVE TIMES THOSE OF THE HOSTIN IN EASTERN TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND, UM, PERMEABILITY IS LIKE THE, THE, UH, PROPERTY OF, UM, THE AQUIFER OF, UH, THAT RELATES TO THE RATE OF WATER MOVEMENT AND PROVIDING THIS CONTEXT.
I KNOW Y'ALL KNOW IT, BUT OTHER PEOPLE ALSO WATCH OUR MEETINGS.
UM, THIS, UH, THE DEPTH, I'LL JUST MENTION AGAIN, THE DEPTH OF THE HOSTIN WITHIN THE TRINITY AGAIN MEANS THAT IT'S NOT WELL STUDIED.
SO THAT'S WHY FOR US, THE FIELD TESTING IS SO IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT'S UNDERNEATH THE AREAS THAT WE ALREADY OWN.
AND SO THEN WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES, UM, THE, UM, IN TERMS OF LIKE DEEP WELL INJECTION AND ANY SORT OF REGULATORY OR LEGAL CONSTRAINTS, WE WOULD HAVE TO WORK THROUGH THAT, UM, PROBABLY AT A LATER POINT.
AND SAN ANTONIO INJECTS IN EDWARDS ROCKS, THEIR BRINE CONCENTRATE.
UM, NOT THE AQUIFER THOUGH, LIKE IT'S, MY GUESS IS HYPERS, SALINE, WHATEVER THEY'RE INJECTING INSTANCES SO FAR AWAY FROM THE FRESHWATER PART OF THE AQUIFER, BUT RIGHT.
MARISA, UM, UM, MADELINE, THANK YOU.
I WAS JUST GOING TO ASK ABOUT THE ARSENIC.
I KNOW WITH THE, THE TRINITY AQUIFER, THERE'S BEEN WORRIES FOR, UM, LIKE OTHER AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY, UM, PROGRAMS SPECIFICALLY WITH THE ARSENIC THAT'S NATURALLY OCCURRING AND NOT AQUIFER AND WHAT THAT WOULD DO TO LOCAL WELL OWNERS AND, AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND WHETHER YOU GUYS HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE ON THAT, SO, OR IS IN THE VERY PRELIMINARY STAGE? I THINK THAT WOULD BE ONE OF THE THINGS WE'D STUDY AND WANT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND.
UM, DURING THE FIELD TESTING, WE WOULD BE DRILLING, UM, UH, ONE OR SEVERAL WELLS TO BE ABLE TO COLLECT GROUNDWATER SAMPLES AS WELL AS CORE SAMPLES AND TESTING THOSE, UM, TO UNDERSTAND KIND OF THE BASELINE GEOCHEMISTRY.
AND THEN INTERACTIONS WITH DIFFERENT, UM, UH, UH, KIND OF PERMUTATIONS OF AUSTIN WATERS DRINKING WATER, SO LIKE AUSTIN WATERS DRINKING WATER AT DIFFERENT PH LEVELS AND THINGS LIKE THAT TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY, UM, POTENTIAL INTERACTIONS TO, UM, UH, CREATE KIND OF BENE, UH, UH, NEGATIVE, UM, INTERACTIONS.
SORRY, JUST DO A QUICK TIME CHECK.
SORRY, LESS THAN 20 MINUTES, RIGHT? WE HAVE TO BE OUTTA HERE.
HARD TWO O'CLOCK, IS THAT RIGHT? UM, WE TEND TO TRY TO KEEP IT WITHIN THE TWO HOUR TIMEFRAME.
JUST A COUPLE OF COMMENTS THEN.
SORRY, YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A WHILE.
YEAH, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE THIS IS A BIG, AS FAR AS I SEE, THIS IS A BIG CHANGE, A BIG ADAPTATION.
FROM EVERYTHING THAT WE, UH, DISCUSSED LAST YEAR, I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY WE KNEW RACKERS GROUNDWATER WAS IN THE PLAN, IT WAS ON THE TABLE, BUT IT WAS, AS SHEA MENTIONED, LIKE WAY OUT IN THE FUTURE MM-HMM
SO FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE, I THINK I, AND MAYBE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE TASK FORCE DIDN'T CONSIDER IT AS SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE SHOWING UP LIKE THIS SOON AND WE
[01:40:01]
WOULD HAVE OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO DISCUSS IT.UM, AND A SR DID SEEM LIKE A MAJOR, A MAJOR PART OF OUR PLAN.
SO I'M WONDERING, UM, YOU KNOW, IF WE, UH, LE LEARNED SOME LESSONS FROM OUR EXPERIENCE IN BASTROP COUNTY, BUT THERE WERE OTHER, UM, PLACES THAT WE HAD CONSIDERED, I, I RECALL LIKE DURING THE PROCESS OF EVALUATING DIFFERENT SITES MM-HMM
THEY WEREN'T ALL IN BASTROP COUNTY.
UM, I GUESS, SO I'M WONDERING WHY ARE WE NOT MAYBE JUST BACKING UP A FEW STEPS IN THE A SR PROCESS AND LOOKING AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AND WHETHER OR NOT WE CAN GET WHAT, YOU KNOW, THE YIELD THAT WE EXPECTED AND HOPED FOR OUT OF THOSE OTHER ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS, RATHER THAN JUMPING TO MAYBE NO A SR AT ALL AND MAYBE A, A HEAVILY ACCELERATED BRACKISH DESAL PROJECT.
I'LL SAY THAT, JUST TO BE REALLY CLEAR, AND MARISA'S GONNA TALK THROUGH NEXT STEPS THAT THIS FIELD TESTING THAT WE WILL DO IN TRAVIS COUNTY IS TO FURTHER A SR AND TO LEARN WHAT WE CAN ABOUT BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESALINATION.
SO, SO A SR IS ABSOLUTELY STILL PART OF THE PLAN.
AND WHEN WE DID THE EIGHT COUNTY STUDY, UH, FOR LOOKING FOR A SR LOCATIONS, TRAVIS COUNTY WAS, WAS ONE OF THE IDENTIFIED LOCATIONS.
SO WE ARE STILL WORKING WITHIN THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE FINDINGS OF THAT DESKTOP STUDY THAT WE DID FOR A SR.
AND WE ARE STILL WORKING TO FURTHER THE A SR PROJECT, BUT WE'RE ALSO RECOGNIZING THAT WE MAY NOT GET THE YIELD OUT OF THE A SR PROJECT THAT WE WOULD HAVE IN ANOTHER GEOLOGY.
'CAUSE IT'S JUST NOT BIG ENOUGH IN THE TRINITY BECAUSE THE, THE, UM, AQUIFER IS LESS PRODUCTIVE.
THERE'S, UM, LESS OPPORTUNITY TO STORE WATER, AND THEN IT'S, UM, IT'S HARDER TO GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF WATER OUT OF THE AQUIFER, UM, JUST BECAUSE OF THE, THE CHARACTERISTICS OF, OF THE AQUIFER AND KIND OF THE ROCKS THAT MAKE UP THE AQUIFER.
UM, SO THAT IS A MEANS THAT, LET'S SAY ORIGINALLY WE HAD A YIELD, AN ANNUAL YIELD FOR AN A SR PROJECT OF 44,500 ACRE FEET PER YEAR.
UM, WE WANT TO EXPLORE WHAT'S POSSIBLE FROM A TRINITY A SR PROJECT, BUT THAT YIELD MAY NOT REACH THAT FULL 44,000.
MAYBE WE CAN GET UP TO, UM, DON'T GET STUCK ON A NUMBER, BUT MAYBE WE CAN GET UP TO 20,000 OR ACRE FEET PER YEAR.
AND SO THERE MAY BE A NEED TO SUPPLEMENT WITH YIELD FROM ANOTHER STRATEGY.
AND BRACKISH GROUNDWATER DESALINATION COULD BE ANOTHER STRATEGY TO HELP SUPPLEMENT THAT YIELD AND METER OVERALL YIELD TARGET.
BUT THE, OR YOU COULD SUPPLEMENT WITH ANOTHER A SR PROJECT IN ONE OF THE EIGHT COUNTIES THAT WE LOOKED AT.
SO THE EIGHT COUNTIES THAT WE, OF THE EIGHT COUNTIES THAT WE LOOKED AT, THE TOP COUNTIES THAT CAME, UH, THAT WERE IDENTIFIED FROM, BASED ON KIND OF HYDRO GEOLOGICAL, UM, UH, CRITERIA AND OTHER CRITERIA INCLUDED THE, UH, CARRIZO WILCOX IN BASTROP COUNTY AND LEE COUNTY AS WELL AS THE TRINITY AND TRAVIS COUNTY.
SO THOSE WERE THREE TOP OPTIONS, UM, IN THE TRINITY AQUIFER SINCE THE, SINCE AN INDIVIDUAL WELL FIELD THAT'S LIKE, OF THE SAME SIZE AS A WELL FIELD IN THE CAR OF WILCOX AND BASTROP COUNTY MAY NOT YIELD AS MUCH IN THE TRINITY.
MAYBE THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO, UM, HAVE SEVERAL WELL FIELDS, UH, DISTRIBUTED WELL FIELD CONCEPT TO TRY TO, UM, KIND OF GROW OR PHASE OVER TIME THE AMOUNT OF STORAGE CAPACITY THAT YOU HAVE.
UM, SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'LL BE LOOKING AT, UM, AS WELL THROUGH THIS FIELD TESTING PROCESS TO TRY TO GATHER DATA FROM DIFFERENT LOCATIONS STARTING ON THE LAND THAT THE CITY ALREADY OWNS, AND SEE KIND OF WHAT THE POSSIBILITIES ARE IN TERMS OF YIELD FROM AN A SR PROJECT AND THOSE VARIOUS PROPERTIES.
I JUST, I WANT TO GIVE THIS THE TIME IT DESERVES AND I, I DON'T WANNA HOLD THIS UP TOO MUCH TODAY, BUT HOPEFULLY WE CAN REVISIT IT AS WE GO, OBVIOUSLY.
AND I THINK THE LAST THING I'LL SAY IS JUST, I, I KNOW WE'RE TALKING A LOT ABOUT ACCELERATING PROJECTS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECTS, BUT I MIGHT CAUTION US AFTER OUR RECENT EXPERIENCE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT ACCELERATE, WHAT'S REALISTIC AS FAR AS ACCELERATION GOES.
AND I WOULD MAYBE WE'LL RETHINK OUR TERMINOLOGY.
BECAUSE ACCELERATE MEANS BRING IT FORWARD IN THE PLAN.
IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN GO 90 MILES AN HOUR AT SOMETHING YEAH.
THAT WE PREVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, HADN'T BEEN REALLY MOVING FORWARD.
SO WE ABSOLUTELY WILL PROCEED WITH DELIBERATE DILIGENCE.
UM, AND, BUT IF WE ARE GOING TO BE FIELD TESTING FOR A SR IN TRAVIS COUNTY, WE OUGHT TO BE FIELD TESTING FOR BRACKISH GROUNDWATER
[01:45:01]
DESAL AT THE SAME TIME, SO THAT WE GATHER THAT INFORMATION TO GIVE US A WALKING START ON IMPLEMENTING THAT.WE'RE NOT GONNA GET THROUGH OUR FULL AGENDA.
SO IF WE WANNA KEEP TALKING ABOUT THIS, LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.
OH, I SEE MADELINE IS, IS YOUR HAND UP MADELINE OR, YEAH, BUT, UM, WILL ALREADY HAD HIS HAND UP LONGER THINKING I CAN'T SEE HIS HAND.
UM, I, I'M GONNA TRY TO SAY SOMETHING REAL QUICK, BUT IT'S TIME TO SHOOT STRAIGHT.
THE A SR PROJECT IN BASTROP COUNTY IS DEAD.
UM, THINKING BACK A FEW YEARS WHEN WE WERE CONSIDERING LEE COUNTY, THOSE PEOPLE SHOWED UP TO OUR WATER FORWARD MEETING AND UH, THEY ALMOST BURNT THE BUILDING DOWN.
THEY SAID, WE DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND YOUR A SR.
THEY WERE ADAMANT THEY WERE SEVERE, THEY WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
AND TWO WEEKS AGO, OR THREE WEEKS AGO AT THE WATER WASTEWATER COMMISSION, THE STATE REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE BASTROP AREA SPOKE DURING CITIZENS COMMUNICATION AND BASICALLY SAID, YOUR A SR IS DEAD.
I WILL GO TO THE LEGISLATURE, I WILL GET A LAW PASSED, BUT YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING.
SO I'D SUGGEST YOU SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.
WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING IN THE PLAN THAT'S AS SIGNIFICANT AS THE A SR IN TERMS OF YIELD.
SO TO PRETEND THAT'S STILL VIABLE, IT'S NOT, IT'S DEAD.
UH, SECONDLY, THE INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE OR SOME VERSION OF THAT DIRECT POTABLE REUSE, UH, WE HAVEN'T MADE MUCH PROGRESS ON THAT.
AND THAT'S A TRICKY JOB THAT COULD DO A LOT, BUT THERE'S STILL A LOT OF, UH, PROBLEMS THERE TO BE SOLVED.
SO OUR WATER PLAN, WHICH HAS BEEN SITTING HERE FOR 10 YEARS, THAT WE ALL FELT QUITE COMFORTABLE WAS GONNA BE A GOOD PLAN, HAS TAKEN A SHOT IN THE HEAD, AND WE'VE GOTTA WORK QUICKLY.
I'M NOT SAYING RUN FAST AND RUN OFF THE CLIFF, BUT WE GOTTA FIGURE OUT SOME REPLACEMENTS AND TO SIT HERE AND SUGGEST THAT WE'RE GONNA GO BACK TO BASTROP 'CAUSE THEY'RE NOT GONNA WELCOME US.
TASK FORCE MEMOIR ALREADY, IF I MAY, UM, WE, WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT GOING TO BASTROP COUNTY FOR A SR WHEN WE TALK ABOUT A SR IN THIS PRESENTATION.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A SR IN TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND WHILE I, UM, UH, AGREE WITH YOU THAT IT WAS A VERY DIFFICULT DECISION TO, UH, RECOGNIZE THAT WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH A SR IN BASTROP COUNTY, UH, I, WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT WE HAVE THE STRATEGIES.
WE HAVE BEEN ADVANCING EVERY STRATEGY IN OUR PLAN DILIGENTLY.
AND SO WE ARE VERY WELL PREPARED TO MOVE FORWARD WITH A SUITE OF STRATEGIES THAT WILL FILL OUR GAPS.
SO WE, WE WILL GET OUR NEEDS MET FOR THE COMMUNITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS, AND THIS IS HOW WE'RE GONNA DO IT.
BUT I CAN TELL YOU THERE IS A LOT OF CRITICISM FOR AUSTIN WATER ON THE WAY THEY HANDLED THIS BASTROP COUNTY THING, AND, UH, THAT IT WASN'T HANDLED WELL.
AND PERHAPS IT WAS HANDLED DIFFERENTLY.
BUT I'M, AGAIN, I'M SORRY TO SAY ALL THIS, BUT THAT'S THE TRUTH.
I I, I WOULD LOVE TO ENGAGE WITH YOU ON THAT AT ANOTHER TIME, BUT I DON'T THINK WE HAVE TIME TODAY.
BUT I'M, I'M QUITE PROUD OF THE TEAM AND HOW THEY BUILT RELATIONSHIPS IN BASTROP COUNTY.
I'M DISAPPOINTED, UH, IN THE WAY THAT IT TURNED OUT, BUT I THINK THAT WE CAN LOOK BACK ON THE WAY IN WHICH WE ENGAGED BOTH WITHIN, UH, WITHIN THE COMMUNITIES AND WITH THE OTHER WATER ENTITIES AND THE ELECTED OFFICIALS IN BASTROP COUNTY.
UM, WE REALLY, UM, REPRESENTED THE BEST OF AUSTIN WATER AND, AND WE WILL MOVE FORWARD FROM HERE.
I GUESS THIS IS ALSO PART OF THE REASON, UH, THE, GOING BACK TO THE ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN PART.
SO IT'S, UH, THIS DEVELOPMENT IS EARLY ENOUGH IN THIS NEXT CYCLE OF PLANNING FOR US TO, TO LOOK READING BETWEEN THE LINES.
IT'S LIKE, I, I THINK THE, THE MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP IS WE GOTTA FIND OUR WATER INSIDE OUR OWN BOUNDARIES.
AND SO THAT ALSO CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR WATER, YOU KNOW, WATER CONSERVATION, MORE ADVANCED WATER CONSERVATION, UM, REUSE AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO WE JUST HAVE TO GET MORE, MORE CREATIVE AND WORK WITH WHAT WE'VE GOT.
[01:50:01]
SPEAKING, SPEAKING OF WHICH, WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE DIRECT POTABLE REUSE? 'CAUSE AT ONE POINT Y'ALL WERE YEAH.SO WE ARE CONTINUING A STUDY WITH PLUMBER ON DIRECT PORTABLE REUSE.
UM, THAT STARTED OFF AS AN EVALUATION OF DPR AS AN EMERGENCY STRATEGY.
AND WE'LL BE SLIGHTLY ADJUSTING THAT TO LOOK AT, UM, POSSIBILITIES FOR MORE LONG-TERM OR PERMANENT.
I JUST WANTED TO SECOND YOUR PITCH.
I MEAN, ANOTHER PIVOT IS TO THINK ABOUT TODD'S COMMENT EARLIER ABOUT PRICING, UM, AND INCENTIVES.
AND I KNOW THAT WE HAVE A TIERED STRUCTURE AND THAT IT SEEMS SUFFICIENT WHEN WE HAD THESE LARGE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS WE WERE LOOKING FOR, FOR WATER SUPPLY.
BUT IF IN FACT WE NEED TO LOOK WITHIN OUR OWN BOUNDARIES, THEN WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO LOOK FURTHER AT OUR OWN WATER USE MM-HMM
AND CONTINUING TO RESTRICT THAT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
'CAUSE IF WE'RE IN A DIFFERENT SITUATION THAN A PREVIOUS PRI PRICING STRUCTURE AND A PREVIOUS CONSERVATION STRATEGY MAY ALSO NEED TO BE ADAPTED AND NOT BE APPROPRIATE.
IT SOUNDS LIKE THE ADAPTATIONS ARE MORE DIRECTED TOWARDS ADDITIONAL NEW SUPPLY THROUGH MAJOR CAPITAL PROJECTS.
AND WE MAY NEED TO, UM, LOOK OTHER WORDS AND, BUT I WOULD ALSO SAY, I MEAN, THE DIRECT POTABLE RE USE TO THE POINT ABOUT OTHER COMMUNITIES THAT USE BRACKISH GROUNDWATER, THERE'S OTHER COMMUNITIES THAT USE DPR AND THAT MIGHT BE SOMETHING TO LOOK TO.
I'LL, I'LL JUST POINT, POINT OUT ON THE RATE STRUCTURE THAT VERY SIMILARLY TO THE WATER FORWARD PLAN, WE DO A COST OF SERVICE MODEL AND REEVALUATE OUR RATE STRUCTURE EVERY FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS.
UM, AND SO THAT WORK IS ALWAYS ONGOING AS WELL.
UH, IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO UPDATE THAT AS A STRATEGY, UM, FOR BOTH FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND WATER CONSERVATION, I HAVE A FOLLOW UP TO THAT.
I BROUGHT THIS UP AT ONE OF OUR IMPLEMENTATION MEETINGS, BUT IT DIDN'T REACH THIS WHOLE BODY, BUT I'LL BRING IT UP HERE JUST TO THIS IDEA ABOUT A TIERED STRUCTURE, WHICH WE DO HAVE, UM, FOR CERTAIN CUSTOMERS.
BUT I NOTICED, AND I ACTUALLY READ THE COST OF SERVICE STUDY, I'M NOT GONNA DO IT AGAIN,
AND I UNDERSTAND THE, THE RATIONALE FOR THAT.
UM, I THINK WE TALKED ABOUT IT AT ONE OF OUR IMPLEMENTATION MEETINGS.
UM, BUT I THINK WE COULD, AGAIN, THAT'S AN AREA WHERE WE COULD GET CREATIVE.
WE HAVE SEASONAL PRICING FOR THEM.
IT'S LIKE PEAK SEASON VERSUS OFF SEASON FOR THOSE CUSTOMERS.
UM, BUT AS FAR AS INCENTIVIZING CONSERVATION GOES, LOOKING AT IT AN INCLINING BLOCK, GREAT STRUCTURE FOR THOSE CLASSES OR CUSTOMERS.
WELL, LET ME JUST SAY THAT, UM, THAT WE ARE WORKING TOWARD WATER BUDGETING ON THE COMMERCIAL SIDE AS WELL.
AND THAT WILL HELP ADDRESS YOUR POINT.
SO LET LET MADELINE, UM, SPEAK AND THEN IF THERE'S ANY RESPONSE, AND THEN I'M GONNA DEFER TO MARISA AND HOW WE WANNA WRAP THINGS UP, TRY TO
UM, IT'S JUST A, A QUICK, UM, THING.
I, I'VE FOUND A COMPANY THAT'S CALLED AQUA, AND THEY DO ATMOSPHERIC WATER CAPTURE.
IT'S ACTUALLY A, A STARTUP IN AUSTIN.
AND I, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT LIKE THE YIELD AND COST AND WHATNOT, BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AN INTERESTING ONE TO EXPLORE.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU GUYS ARE AWARE OF IT, BUT IT COULD POTENTIALLY GIVE SOME ADDITIONAL YIELD.
WE'VE SEEN HELP WITH NEW DEVELOPMENTS.
YEAH, WE'VE SEEN THOSE, UM, TYPES OF APPLICATIONS.
TYPICALLY THEY'RE SMALLER, UM, SYSTEMS THAT ARE DEVELOPED TO MEET KIND OF, UH, POINT OF USE NEEDS.
UM, THEY HAVE VERY HIGH COSTS, UM, IN TERMS OF OPERATIONS BECAUSE OF THE, THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY THAT'S REQUIRED.
BUT, UM, I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM USED AT SCALE.
UH, BUT I'VE SEEN, UH, SOME APPLICATIONS, UM, ESPECIALLY BY THE MILITARY, UM, FOR, TO MEET, UH, SMALLER DEMANDS, UM, THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'VE LOOKED AT IN PREVIOUS WATER FORWARD PLANS.
AND WE CAN, UM, REEVALUATE DURING THE NEXT UPDATE AS WELL.
I WANTED TO JUST GIVE ME TWO, FIVE MINUTES.
SO LET ME JUST SAY THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, SHOWN ON THE SCREEN HERE IS OUR, UH, A PLAN FOR FIELD TESTING.
PHASE ONE B IS THE, THE KIND OF, UH, ALPHA NUMERIC REFERENCE TO THE FIELD TESTING PHASE.
PHASE ONE A WAS THE DESKTOP STUDY PHASE FOUR A SR.
SO WE'RE REVISING OUR PHASE ONE B FIELD TESTING SCOPE TO INCLUDE FIELD TESTING FOR BOTH A SR AND BRE GROUNDWATER DESALINATION.
YOU NEED THE SAME DATA FOR BOTH.
UM, SO WE'LL BE, UH, YOU KNOW, UH, DRILLING, UH, DESIGNING AND DRILLING, UH, A WELL DOING SAMPLING, CONDUCTING LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF THOSE SAMPLES.
WE'LL BE FORMING A TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP TO SUPPORT THE TESTING, ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS, AND DEVELOPING PLANS FOR FUTURE PILOT PROJECTS BASED ON THE TEST RESULTS.
WE CAN GO AHEAD TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
[01:55:01]
CON IN CONTINUING TO COORDINATE WITH OUR PARTNER DEPARTMENTS AS WE MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS.THIS IS, UM, AN IMAGE THAT ILLUSTRATES WHAT CORE SAMPLES LOOK LIKE.
THESE, THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY WHAT OUR CORE SAMPLES WILL LOOK LIKE FROM THE DRILLING AND TESTING THAT WE'RE DOING, BUT THIS IS WHAT THEY CAN LOOK LIKE.
UM, WE WILL NEED TO GO TO COUNCIL FOR THEIR ACTION TO AUTHORIZE ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR OUR EXISTING PHASE ONE B CONTRACT, AND PENDING THAT, UH, THEIR APPROVAL COULD BEGIN PHASE ONE B WORK HERE IN 2026.
COULD YOU MOVE TO THE NEXT SLIDE? UH, ALSO WANTED TO PROVIDE A BRIEF UPDATE ON INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE.
THAT'S A STRATEGY WHERE WE WOULD USE HIGHLY TREATED RECLAIM WATER, UM, PUMP, UH, THAT INTO LADYBIRD LAKE.
AND THEN, UM, DIVERT WATER JUST DOWNSTREAM OF TOM MILLER DAM.
UM, ON, ON LADY BIRD LAKE, UH, TO ULRICH WATER TREATMENT PLANTS SO THAT WATER COULD BE TREATED FOR POTABLE USE.
THIS IS A STRATEGY THAT WOULD ONLY BE USED WHEN HIGHLAND LAKES COMBINE STORAGE, WHICH IS 400,000 ACRE FEET.
YOU CAN MOVE TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
UM, THIS STRATEGY, UH, HAS A GOAL OF COMPLETING CONSTRUCTION BEFORE WE REACH 400,000 ACRE FEET OF COMBINED STORAGE.
UM, SO THERE ARE TWO PATHWAYS IN WHICH IT COULD BE DELIVERED.
ONE IS THROUGH A NON-EMERGENCY IMPLEMENTATION PATHWAY THAT WOULD LAST FROM NOW TO 2035.
AND THAT WOULD USE A STANDARD DESIGN APPROACH TO DELIVER PERMANENT INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND ALTERNATIVELY, IF THE HIGHLAND LAKES COMBINE STORAGE REACHES 750,000 ACRE FEET, THAT WOULD TRIGGER AN EMERGENCY IMPLEMENTATION PATHWAY, UM, WHERE WE WOULD, UH, PLAN TO IMPLEMENT, EXECUTE THE PROJECT FROM THREE YEARS, UH, THREE YEARS FROM MEETING THAT TRIGGER.
UM, THIS WOULD INCLUDE USING A MODIFIED DESIGN APPROACH TO DELIVER TEMPORARY INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WOULD THEN BE CONVERTED TO PERMANENT INFRASTRUCTURE AFTER EMERGENCY OPERATIONS.
CONCLUDE, YOU CAN MOVE TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
EMILY HAS ALREADY TALKED US THROUGH THE COMBINED STORAGE PROJECTIONS FROM LCRA.
WE ARE IN A MUCH HAPPIER PLACE GIVEN THE JULY RAINS.
AND, UM, WITH MODELING THAT WE'VE DONE WITH OUR OWN CONSULTING HYDROLOGISTS, WE HAVE ADDIT, WE BELIEVE WE HAVE ADDITIONAL YEARS, UM, UH, UNTIL WE WOULD POTENTIALLY MEET, UM, THE 750,000 ACRE FOOT TRIGGER.
SO THAT GIVES US MORE TIME TO ADVANCE OUR, OUR CURRENT PLANS.
SO RIGHT NOW WE ARE ON A NON-EMERGENCY IMPLEMENTATION PATHWAY.
WE HAVE THREE ROTATION LIST CONSULTANTS DEVELOPING PROJECT CONCEPT REPORTS, UH, RELATED TO THE VARIOUS INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS FOR THIS PROJECT.
AND THOSE REPORTS WILL INFORM THE PROGRAM AND PROJECT DESIGN AND OUR CONSTRUCTION DELIVERY APPROACH.
WE NEED THAT INFORMATION AS WELL TO DEVELOP A PERMITTING APPROACH.
AND WE'LL BE CONTINUING TO WORK WITH OUR PARTNER, UH, DEPARTMENTS ON THIS PROJECT AS WELL.
WE CAN GO AHEAD AND ADVANCE, UM, A COUPLE OF SLIDES TO THE LAKE WALTER E. LONG, UH, STRATEGY.
THIS INCLUDES USE OF LAKE LONG AS A WATER SUPPLY RESERVOIR.
THE LAKE IS CURRENTLY AND WOULD CONTINUE TO BE SUPPLIED BY THE COLORADO RIVER, AND IT WOULD BE OPERATED SO THAT LAKE LEVELS WOULD FLUCTUATE WITHIN A LIMITED FIVE FOOT RANGE DURING DROUGHT PERIODS.
WATER FROM THIS STRATEGY WOULD BE TREATED AT A NEW WATER TREATMENT PLANT THAT WOULD USE ADVANCED TREATMENT PROCESSES.
UM, IN NOVEMBER, UH, WE ACHIEVED A WATER RIGHT AMENDMENT THAT WAS ISSUED BY TCEQ THAT ALLOWS AUSTIN WATER TO DIVERT UP TO 16,156 HERE FROM THE COLORADO RIVER TO STORE IN LAKE LONG AND USE THAT WATER FOR MUNICIPAL SUPPLY.
UM, THAT'S ON TOP OF OUR EXISTING RECREATIONAL AND STEAM ELECTRIC USES.
UM, WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO WORK WITH OUR PARTNER DEPARTMENTS AND PERFORM COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ON THIS STRATEGY AS WELL.
WE'LL BEGIN WATER QUALITY SAMPLING TO INFORM, UM, FUTURE PLANNING FOR THIS, UH, PROJECT AND BEGIN A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING REPORT.
AND THEN GO AHEAD TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
WE'RE ALSO WORKING ON BATHROOM METRIC AND SEDIMENT SURVEYS THAT ARE BEING CONDUCTED WITH TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD FOR LADYBIRD LAKE AND LAKE AUSTIN.
AND THAT'S HELPING TO PROVIDE DATA THAT WE'LL USE, UH, FOR OTHER WATER SUPPLY PLANNING EFFORTS.
AND THEN, LIKE I MENTIONED, WE'VE GOT THE ONGOING STUDY FOR DIRECT POTABLE REUSE.
UM, AND WE'LL BE LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN TRANSITION THAT TO LOOK AT NOT JUST EMERGENCY APPLICATIONS, BUT LONG, AND THEN YOU CAN ROLL ON THROUGH THE PRETTY SLIDE TO THE NEXT STEP SLIDE.
UM, AND JUST TO SAY TO REITERATE, WE'RE USING AN ADAPTIVE APPROACH TO PLAN FOR OUR WATER NEEDS.
WE'LL BE UPDATING THE TIMING AND SCOPE AND YIELDS OF OUR STRATEGIES.
UM, AND THEN WE'LL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH OUR MANY DIFFERENT, UH, CITY DEPARTMENTS LIKE WATERSHED PROTECTION, PARKS AND RECREATION, AND AUSTIN ENERGY ON MANY OF THESE STRATEGIES, WHICH YOU CAN TELL HAVE STRONG LINKAGES TO THOSE PARTNER DEPARTMENTS.
UM, OVERALL I THINK THAT WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO, UH, IDENTIFY AND CREATE WATER SUPPLY STRATEGIES THAT PROVIDE MULTIPLE BENEFITS TO OUR COMMUNITY, NOT JUST THE WATER SUPPLY ASPECT, BUT RECREATIONAL
[02:00:01]
RESILIENCE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, AND OTHER BENEFITS.UM, AND WE THINK THAT WE CAN DERIVE THE MOST BENEFIT OUT OF, UH, DEVOTING OUR EFFORTS TO THOSE PROJECTS THAT HAVE KIND OF THE GREATEST IMPACT FOR OUR LOCAL AUSTIN COMMUNITY.
THAT WAS LIKE FAST AND FURIOUS 15.
[5. Staff briefing regarding Water Forward Task Force administrative items. Presentation by Marisa Flores Gonzalez, Water Resources Team Supervisor, Austin Water. ]
ITEM IS, IS THAT, IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO TALK TO US ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE? YES.UM, LET'S GO AHEAD AND GO TO THAT SLIDE.
THAT PRESENTATION REALLY QUICK.
UM, SORRY, WE'VE GOT SOME, SEE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE CHAIR'S NOT HERE.
YEAH, I'M JUST, I'M JUST ARM, I'M JUST ARM CANDY.
YOU KNOW, WE JUST WANTED TO SHARE THE ROSTER FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION WORKING GROUP.
THE, UM, WATER, UH, THE, UH, WATER FOUR PLAN UPDATE WORKING GROUP HAS NOT MENTIONED.
UH, MENTIONED ME MET IN 2025 BECAUSE WE COMPLETED THE PLAN UPDATE AND WE HAVEN'T REALLY KICKED OFF THE NEXT PLAN UPDATE.
UM, BUT THE IMPLEMENTATION WORKING GROUP IS ONGOING.
THIS IS A LIST OF THOSE FOLKS WHO ARE PARTICIPATING.
UM, THERE, UH, THE, THE, UM, IF THERE IS ANY INTEREST IN FOLKS LIKE ROLLING OFF OF THIS WORKING GROUP AND ALLOWING OTHER, UM, TASK FORCE MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE, THEN I THINK THERE IS SOME INTEREST.
THE WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIP IS LIMITED TO FIVE TASK FORCE MEMBERS AS SIX MEMBERS.
CONS, UH, CONSTITUTE A QUORUM.
AND THEN JUST AS A REMINDER, WE DO TRY TO TAKE NOTES.
UH, WE DO TAKE NOTES FROM THE WORKING GROUP MEETINGS AND UM, WE WILL COMMIT TO SHARING THOSE NOT JUST AT THE NEXT TASK FORCE MEETING, BUT PROMPTLY AFTER THE WORKING GROUP MEETINGS.
AND THEN, UM, DID WE HAVE A LAST SLIDE, EMILY? OR THAT'S IT? YEAH, JUST ABOUT THE ROSTER.
SO I THINK, I GUESS THAT'S THE, UM, THIS IS THE WATER FOUR PLANT UPDATE, UM, WORKING GROUP ROSTER.
UM, WE WILL BEGIN QUARTERLY MEETINGS IN 2026.
WE ARE ACTUALLY BEGINNING SOME OF THE PRELIMINARY WORK, TECHNICAL WORK TO THAT WILL UNDERLAY THAT PLAN.
UM, AND AGAIN, WE'LL BE TAKING NOTES FROM THESE WORKING GROUP MEETINGS AND PROMPTLY SHARING THOSE WITH THE ENTIRE TASK FORCE.
SO, SO WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FROM LIKE MEMBERS THAT ARE ON THIS GROUP TO RECONFIRM THEY WANT TO BE BE ON IT IF THEY WANNA FALL OFF.
THEN ANYBODY WHO'S INTERESTED IN BEING ON THESE, UM, WORK GROUPS ALSO LET Y'ALL KNOW.
YES, I, THERE IS AT LEAST ONE MEMBER WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION WORKING GROUP.
SO IF THERE IS ANY INTEREST FROM SOME WHO HAS NOT PARTICIPATED IN THAT IN THE PAST, SO IF THERE'S, UM, INTEREST IN ANOTHER MEMBER ROLLING OFF OF THAT UM, WORKING GROUP AND ALLOWING ANOTHER MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE, THEN THAT WOULD BE UM, OKAY.
AND THEN YOU HAVE NOT, UM, PARTICIPATED IN EITHER, SO THERE'S SPACE ON THIS UPDATE WORKING GROUP, BUT YES, WE'LL SEE.
AND I WAS GONNA OFFER, I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO TAKE A SPOT IF THERE'S A NEED FOR ONE.
OUR MEETINGS AREN'T USUALLY THIS EXCITING.
YEAH, THEY'RE PAUL'S LIKE, I'M READY.
IT'S ALWAYS GOOD WATER DISCUSSIONS.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT WE NEED TO DO OR, OR SAY? I THINK THAT'S, THAT'S IT.
UM, I DID JUST, I DID JUST WANT TO NOTE THAT, UH, MEADOW CENTER FINALLY GOT THE RAINWATER HARVESTING FIRM YIELD THE RAINWATER HARVESTING REPORT OUT.
SO THAT IS UP ON OUR WEBPAGE WITH SPREADSHEETS TO CALCULATE FIRM YIELDS FOR RAINWATER HARVESTING.
SO JUST LET YOU BE AWARE THAT THAT'S OUT THERE.
AND THEN ALSO LET MADELINE KNOW THAT UM, I'VE GOT, I'M WORKING WITH A GRADUATE STUDENT THAT'S LOOKING AT ATMOSPHERIC WATER HARVESTERS.
UM, SO MAYBE OVER THIS NEXT YEAR WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE A REPORT ON THAT AS WELL.
WE WOULD LOVE THE RAINWATER HARVESTING FOR YIELD INFORMATION AS WELL.
THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'VE HAD, UM, KIND OF ONGOING DISCUSSIONS WITH TWDB ABOUT WHEN WE'RE INCLUDING OUR, UM, ONSITE REUSE STRATEGIES.
AND RAINWATER HARVESTING YIELDS IN THE REGIONAL WATER PLANS.
BECAUSE THEY WANNA HAVE A FIRM YIELD ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRATEGIES.
HAVE I GOT THE SPREADSHEET FOR YOU? WOO,
IT'S NOT SEEING ANY OTHER BUSINESS AND, UH, MAKING SURE I'VE GOTTEN THROUGH ALL OH, FUTURE
[FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS]
AGENDA ITEMS. UH, THE COMMUNICATIONS OVERVIEW WAS MEANT THAT ON OUR SCHEDULE.UM, MELISSA, HEAR, UH, OPPOSITION TO ADJOURNING.
WE ARE ADJOURNING AT, I'LL ROUND UP 2 0 7.