Farmers Branch staff outline five‑year water conservation plan, smart‑meter rollout and May 1 submission deadline

Unidentified Utilities Staff told the Farmers Branch Sustainability Committee on April 10 that the city must submit a five‑year water conservation plan to the state by May 1 and file annual progress reports tied to that plan. “The deadline is May 1st,” the presenter said, and described plan elements including a utility profile, 5‑ and 10‑year gallons‑per‑capita‑per‑day (GPCD) targets, residential usage breakdowns and water‑loss accounting.

The presentation focused on operational steps staff said will reduce water loss and improve reporting: targeted large‑meter testing and replacement, expanded acoustic leak detection, and continuation of the AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) rollout. The presenter said the city will go to bid on a contract estimated between $1 million and $2 million to replace or repair up to about 40 large meters, and noted that more accurate meter reads both reduce nonrevenue water and increase revenue: “The more accurate those reader those meters are, the better.”

Why it matters: the plan establishes targets used for state oversight and local budgeting. Committee members pressed staff on how residents will see data. Staff said the City’s customer app (SmartHub) can provide household‑level 15‑minute interval reads, but a city‑wide public dashboard showing system trends is not available yet. Staff said the city manager is pursuing greater transparency and that a city dashboard should follow completion of the meter rollout to avoid duplicate costs.

Details and context: staff described categories the state requires — total GPCD, residential GPCD and water loss — and cautioned that recommended statewide targets cited elsewhere (a referenced 140 GPCD figure) may not fit all communities. Farmers Branch’s recent five‑year average GPCD was described in the presentation as roughly 225, with total annual usage varying between approximately 2.2 and 3.0 billion gallons in wet and dry years. Staff also explained the distinction between operational changes (meter replacement, leak detection, AMI) that staff can implement with city‑manager approval and regulatory or rate changes that require council action.

What’s next: staff said they will finalize and present the written plan for council review before the May 1 submission; the committee discussed assisting with outreach and education (to promote toilet and irrigation rebates and resident use of SmartHub) but was told policy or rate changes must go through council.

Provenance: presentation and Q&A, SEG 061–SEG 264.