Jennifer Walker, a Texas water expert, said Austin Water is likely not satisfied with increasing leak volume, considering how much money and effort the utility has dedicated to stemming those losses.
“Austin is not the only city that is struggling with this … Houston, San Antonio, other cities, you know, are investing in reducing water loss, but they’re not seeing the results that they might expect,” said Walker, the senior director for the Texas Coast and Water Program at National Wildlife Federation and chair of the City of Austin’s Water Forward taskforce.
Walker has been tapped into the city’s water leak mitigation efforts for years. When Austin saw leak volumes increasing despite extensive investment, it retained consulting firm Black & Veatch to provide a system-wide analysis and recommendations, she said.
The consultant’s report was completed in October 2024, at a cost of $200,000, according to city records. With the report in hand, the city opted to implement essentially every significant recommendation – a signal to Walker that Austin is taking water loss seriously.
“Austin is growing. They absolutely do not want to be losing [water] through infrastructure, because us going out and getting our next water supply is going to be hugely expensive,” she said.
