The Sustainably Manage Our Water Resources (SMOWR) priority program focuses on sustainable management of Austin’s water resources; water, wastewater, reclaimed water, and storm drainage systems; floodplains; and the water quality of our lakes, rivers, streams, and aquifers. This priority program recognizes that water resources are vital to Austin’s quality of life and viability as a city. Bringing together existing efforts allows us to move forward with more integrated strategies that span a comprehensive range of water resource issues such as supply, quality, conservation, public health, and recreation
Sustainable Water
Program Champions:
Teresa Lutes,
Matt Hollon
Departments: Austin Water, Watershed Protection
Progress
In November 2019, the City Council approved the most significant update to our floodplain regulations in their 36-year history. This was in response to the challenge highlighted in the 2019 Imagine Austin Annual Report: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s study of historical rainfall called Atlas 14. This study shows that Central Texas is more likely to experience larger storms than previously thought. Following extensive public meetings and input, the City updated its floodplain regulations in order to protect the public from flooding and create a more resilient community. The most significant change to the floodplain regulations is that we are using the current 500-year floodplain as the regulatory floodplain until new floodplain studies are complete. More information can be found here.
Atlas 14 Floodplain Ordinance
Small IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) projects
Throughout its history, the Watershed Protection Department (WPD) has placed a priority on maintaining and improving Austin’s drainage infrastructure. This work has been performed by a combination of in-house construction crews from the Field Operations Division and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects built by contractors who successfully bid on individual projects. WPD recently added a third construction option by bidding its first Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The IDIQ contractor is available to build projects that are too large or use equipment not available to in house crews but are too small to assure successful competitive bidding as a freestanding CIP project. In 2017, Santa Clara Construction successfully bid upon and was awarded the first Open Systems IDIQ contract. Since then, 24 work assignments have been completed resulting in: 1250-feet of repaired streambank, nine repaired or rehabilitated stormwater controls, a new regional biofilter in Reznicek Field, and five new rain gardens at Reilly Elementary School.
Sustainable Water Management
In 2019, Austin’s water use dropped to a record low of 120 gallons per capita per day (gpcd). While wetter weather conditions in 2019 contributed to a lower gpcd compared to drier years with more outdoor water uses, the city's sustainable water management efforts were key in reaching this significant milestone. Significant water savings have been achieved by the Austin community through a comprehensive suite of Austin Water managed water conservation programs and other measures including: once a week watering schedule for automatic irrigation systems, a conservation oriented tiered water rate structure, municipal reclaimed and onsite water reuse, water loss control, conservation incentive programs across all customer sectors, and public education and outreach. In the past year AW has:
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Released updated irrigation rebates for the residential and commercial/multifamily sectors that increased rebate amounts and added newly incentivized items.
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Approved nearly $45,000 in rebates for replacing old toilets with ultra-low-flow models, upgrading kitchen equipment, and installing overflow alarms on cooling towers at multiple AISD schools.
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Carried out small-scale Advanced Metering Infrastructure pilot projects, including an inter-departmental coordination with twenty Parks and Recreation Department Aquatic facilities, to reduce water use by identifying leaks. On Feb. 20, 2020, the Austin City Council approved contracts for full implementation of the new city-wide Advanced Metering Infrastructure system and customer portal.
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Hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Montopolis Reclaimed Water Reservoir and Pump Station. The reservoir can store up to 4 million gallons of reclaimed water and, along with the pump station, will improve the delivery and reliability of Austin’s reclaimed water system.
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Continued installation of a 5,000-gallon onsite blackwater reuse system to meet toilet and urinal flushing demands of the City’s new development center near the ACC campus. Along with onsite AC condensate and rainwater collection system, the blackwater system is expected to reduce the site’s potable water demand by 75%.
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Continued to work with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) to share information on key subjects including flooding, zebra mussels, water rights, conservation and supply planning, and participate in the LCRA Water Management Plan update process to ensure safeguards to firm water customer water supplies and continued protection of our core Colorado River supplies.
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Worked towards implementing an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Project as included in Water Forward by forming an ASR technical advisory group and issuing a solicitation to secure professional services for an ASR pilot and ASR program management.
Outreach and Partnerships
As part of Austin Water’s strategic planning, AW has identified Stakeholder Understanding and Support as one of its main focus areas. In an effort to gain a broader understanding and share information, the utility continued its outreach and partnerships in the following efforts:
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Public Outreach and engagement in Water Forward – AW hosted two public stakeholder workshops to discuss onsite reuse and other code changes that AW was developing to include in the Land Development Code revision. AW staff also attended numerous Land Development Code related workshops and public meetings. The utility continues to engage in various community, industry, and public events to make presentations and share information about the Water Forward Plan and implementation efforts underway.
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Water Utility Climate Alliance Training - In December 2019, Austin Water, in conjunction with the Water Utility Climate Alliance and other partners, held a two-day climate training - Building Resilience to a Changing Climate: A Technical Training in Water Sector Utility Decision Support - attended by water professionals from across Texas. The training helped participants to better understand the impacts of climate change on water-related infrastructure and water resource supplies. Topics included a discussion of the capabilities and limitations of climate science; best practices for long-term water, wastewater and stormwater planning; planning methods for addressing uncertainty when incorporating climate science into utility decision making; and communication strategies to address institutional barriers and generate engagement around climate adaptation and resilience building.
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One Water Summit - In September 2019, Austin Water and the Watershed Protection Department participated in the US Water Alliance One Water Summit that was held in Austin. The summit participants included over one thousand water leaders, practitioners, activists, artists, and stakeholders. AW and WPD staff participated in panel discussions on onsite reuse, integrated water resource planning, and crisis communications. City staff organized multiple site visits, including a tour of Downtown Austin water-themed public art pieces and the Seaholm Eco-District. The Seaholm Eco-district includes multiple innovative water use projects which provide significant potable water offsets while also serving as water quality control systems. Participants toured innovative stormwater management projects along the north bank of Lady Bird Lake and learned how public art and place-making were integrated into the eco-district.
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Fostering international information exchange - As part of Austin Water’s commitment to sustainability, over the last fifteen years the AW Center for Environmental Research has collaborated with the US State Department and the Austin nonprofit organization GlobalAustin to host tours and meetings for international delegations of governmental officials and non-governmental organization leaders. In February a delegation of five municipal officials from Turkmenistan visited to learn about Management of Municipal Utilities. They were followed in March by six government officials from Indonesia who came to learn about Sustainable Transparent Infrastructure Financing and Development.
Challenges
Ongoing Utility-Side Water Loss Management
Water loss management is an Austin Water (AW) priority. While the city’s water distribution system meets industry water loss standards, there is always room for improvement. Broadly, AW’s water loss management efforts are aimed at improving metering accuracy and reducing water loss from leaks in the distribution system through a number of key strategies.
AW is focusing on leak response, leak detection through tried and tested techniques, pilot testing emerging leak detection technologies, and, through its Renewing Austin program, repairing and replacing water mains. AW is also focusing on validating water treatment plant production meters, conducting a customer meter accuracy study, testing 3-inch and larger meters for accuracy, and executing ongoing meter replacement programs. In addition, AW is implementing a multi-year advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project to upgrade customer meters to record and communicate near real-time water use information to customers, to be complete by 2024. AW will continue to prioritize its focus on water loss management as an important core function. Utility-side water loss control is a key demand management strategy in Water Forward, Austin’s 100-year integrated water resource plan. Along with other sustainable water management strategies, AW’s water loss management efforts helped the utility to achieve a record low water use of 120 gallons per capita per day in 2019.
Toxic Algae
In 2019, Lady Bird Lake experienced a harmful algae bloom between July and November. Regrettably, at least five dogs died after swimming in the lake.
A harmful algae bloom (HAB) occurs when rapidly growing algae causes harm to people, aquatic life, or other animals, including pets. One way that algae can be harmful is when cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, produce toxins. Cyanobacteria are found in nearly all habitats, and few species produce such toxins. While it is not entirely understood why certain species of cyanobacteria are triggered to produce toxins, they are more likely to do so in lakes or ponds when water is warm, when flows are low, and when nutrients are abundant.
Cyanobacteria blooms regularly make the news nationwide when lake water turns from clear to “pea-soup”. These types of blooms are caused by cyanobacteria floating in the water column (planktonic algae). The type of algae bloom that occurred in Lady Bird Lake, in contrast, was from a type of cyanobacteria that starts growing on the lake bottom (benthic algae) and then floats up to form clumps as it dies. It is thought that the dogs who died consumed some of the algae from these floating mats. While low levels of toxins were found in algae, no water samples were positive for toxins. Therefore, potential human health risks are low. Watershed Protection Department (WPD) staff will continue to monitor both algae and water weekly throughout July until the season ends in the fall.
The City of Austin is not aware of a similar problem prior to 2019, but WPD staff believe it could happen again. Zebra mussels, floods that bring nutrient-laden sediments into the basin, and climate change all may have contributed to the 2019 harmful algae bloom. In summer and late fall, people who allow their dogs to swim in Lady Bird Lake should be aware that toxins may be present and dogs who swim in the water have an increased risk of becoming ill. If toxins are detected in algae or water samples, the City of Austin will install temporary signs to indicate that risk levels are high.
We encourage dog owners to keep monitoring algae conditions at http://austintexas.gov/page/algae, and to keep their dogs away from floating mats of algae
