Austin Water Invites Community to Open House on Large Water Users

AUSTIN – Austin Water is hosting an Open House to seek community feedback on proposed policy concepts for large water users in our service area. The public is invited to come and learn more about Austin Water's current and proposed actions to promote responsible water use for large water use customers.

Open House specifics:

• Monday, Oct. 5 | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
  City of Austin Permitting and Development Center
  6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive, Austin, TX 78752
  Room 1405 Event Center

Austin Water's current policies include requiring new development to fund and build the infrastructure needed to serve their development, requiring all new commercial and multifamily customers to identify how water will be used on-site, and a comprehensive set of water conservation requirements and incentives. Large developments are further required to reuse water onsite and/or connect to the centralized reclaimed (recycled) water system for uses such as irrigation, toilet flushing and cooling.

Building on these existing practices, we are developing a policy framework to support long-term planning and help high impact water customers use water responsibly.

Following direction from the Austin City Council, the proposed framework will:

• Clarify and update definitions for high impact water users.
• Strengthen the development review process for new large water use customers.
• Require new and existing large water use customers to provide detailed water conservation plans.
• Expand the requirements for existing programs that reduce drinking water demand through reclaimed water, onsite reuse, efficient cooling and other conservation strategies.
• Establish water budgets, monitoring and accountability measures.

Public feedback will help Austin Water refine recommendations before they are presented to Austin City Council for consideration.

About Austin Water

Austin Water provides safe, reliable, high quality, sustainable and affordable water services that have met the community's needs for over 100 years. Austin Water serves more than 1 million people in the Austin metropolitan area across 544 square miles. As Austin continues to evolve, our mission remains the same: To provide water for people and care for the environment. For more information visit austinwater.org.