Austin’s Water Conservation Story, Part 2

How Austin Cut Water Use by 31% and Why We Can’t Stop Now
by Paul Robbins

In July of 2024, the Save Our Spring Alliance posted a story entitled “The Coming Austin Water Shortage” on potential, and likely, water shortages that will afflict Austin in the coming decades.  To address this potential emergency, SOS is publishing a five-part series on water conservation policies.  This is Part 2.

In This Story…
• In 2007, a bold new plan was created to boost water conservation.  Between 2007 and 2019, Austin’s per capita per day water consumption fell 31%.
• Austin created mandatory irrigation schedules which dramatically lowered water consumption.  These were reinforced by consumers concern of the region’s drought and water shortages.
• Rebates were awarded for efficient toilets and clothes washers.  These were superseded by national standards that were pervasive and even more effective.
• Mandatory local inspections were required for large commercial landscapes, car washes, and cooling towers.
• More accurate water meters were installed.
• New and novel requirements for onsite water reuse in commercial buildings for non-potable uses like irrigation are now being implemented, as well as measures to greatly reduce irrigation consumption in single-family homes.
• Ironically, increased water rates drove down consumption even more.

In May 2007, Austin City Council’s Water Conservation Task Force approved an aggressive set of water conservation proposals created by the Austin Water’s staff and volunteers.  It recommended 20 new programs that would save almost 33 million gallons a day of peak demand, the equivalent of 17% of the utility’s peak day in 2010.

Shortly after this, water use began plummeting.  Measured in “Gallons Per Capita Per Day,” there was a profound 31% drop in consumption between 2007 and 2019.  (This is based on a 5-year average to compensate for weather variations.)  

We have lost momentum on conservation. This prompts several questions.
1. What circumstances and programs lead to this dramatic decrease?
2. Is there more conservation potential given this already noticeable decline, or has Austin saturated its possibilities?
3. Has Austin’s substantial supply-side construction program created a financial conflict of interest against future conservation progress?  

Austin Water seems to have rested on its previous achievements rather than answering these questions. 

Austin Water has made progress in water-pipe leak repair and water-pipe maintenance schedules, but there is not even a hint of a plan for system-wide replacement, nor ways to eliminate the use of toxic-to-manufacture PVC pipe in future expansions.  Moreover, (as will be discussed in a later story) the overall effort to prevent leaks have not been successful.
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So, here’s what we know has worked for successful conservation results:

1. Watering Schedules
In 2007, Austin Water implemented a mandatory two-day-per-week landscape watering schedule with fines for repeat violators. Around 2013, this shifted to a once-per-week watering schedule for all automatic irrigation systems across all customer types.  Residential hose watering was still allowed twice per week. This once-per-week schedule – originally created to deal with drought conditions – was made permanent in 2016.
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The effectiveness of these watering schedules was likely boosted by the public awareness of extreme climate conditions, as regional temperatures rose steadily since 2007 due to global warming.  

Average annual historical temperature for Travis County From National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate at a Glance Statewide Mapping: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/

At the same time, due to the excessive heat, lack of rainfall and lax management of the water consumption, the Highland Lake levels plummeted.  In 2014, they were at record lows since the Lakes were first full in the 1942 after construction (when population of Travis County was about 10% of its current size).  

Annual average historical storage of the Highland Lakes Data from Texas Water Development Board.

2. Toilet Standards and Rebates
Nationally, toilet efficiency has greatly improved, with the 2014 standard of 1.28 gallons/flush saving 74 to 82% compared to pre-1985 models.  Some toilets use as little as 0.8 gallon/flush.  However, there is no accounting for how many of these old units are still installed in Austin Water’s service territory.  

These are durable appliances that can last the life of a building. Austin Water offered aggressive rebates to encourage replacements, with about 148,000 discounted or free toilets distributed from 2007 and 2011, saving roughly 620 million gallons a year (about 1.4% of Austin’s 2023 water use) and 1.7 million gallons per day reduction in water use.  Despite this success, most toilet incentive programs ended in 2011.

National water consumption requirements for toilets sold in the U.S.

3. Washing Machine and Dishwasher Standards
Austin Water provided rebates for about 38,000 efficient front-loading clothes washers between 1998 and 2011.  The utility stopped its incentive program in 2012, with the vast majority of homes not receiving rebates for them.  However, federal standards for efficient clothes washers for the Residential sector lowered consumption by 57% for standard-sized Residential and Commercial clothes washers.  The best products on the market can lower consumption by 65-71% for Residential and Commercial machines respectively.

Federal clothes washer standards have lowered water consumption by 57% since 2007, and new standards effective in 2028 will lower use even more.

Federal standards for clothes washers and dishwashers saved Austin Water customers between 700 million and 1.7 billion gallons of water annually by 2023, about 2.7% of total consumption in this benchmark year.  And they will continue to save even more water as older machines are replaced with new and even more efficient code-compliant equipment.

4. Required Commercial Equipment Inspections
The Water Conservation Task Force proposed three requirements for inspection of large-volume Commercial equipment.  These have been somewhat successful but have had a checkered history of implementation and enforcement. Austin requires efficiency inspections every 2 years for large landscape irrigation (over one acre), and annually for car washes and cooling towers. Though recommended in 2007, landscape and car wash inspections began in 2013, and cooling tower inspections in 2017. 

The majority of Commercial customers currently comply, and since the utility management requirements of these programs is minimal, the savings is extremely cost effective for the utility to administer, as well as cost-effective for the customer.  In fiscal year 2024, they were saving about 263 million gallons a year; 0.6% of total consumption in the benchmark year of 2023.

5. More Accurate Water Meters
Between 2021 and 2025, Austin Water replaced 250,000 dated analog meters with advanced digital “smart meters.”  These allow remote reading and provide customers hourly feedback on their use within a day.  The new meters save water utilities money by reducing labor, increasing meter accuracy, and reducing costly bill disputes (which water utilities sometimes lose).  Another major benefit is that the new meters can also remotely detect customer-side leaks, with resulting savings for both the customer and utility.  

Despite the many benefits, Austin Water deferred the phased installation over a decade.  There were discussions of this project’s implementation since at least 2010.

In 2024 alone, these digital meters sent out 98,035 customer leak alerts with an estimate savings of 580.5 million gallons – about 1.3% – of 2023’s total consumption.  (However, some of these alerts were sent to the same customer more than once, so not all of this estimated savings was achievable.)

6. New Conservation Requirements and Code Changes
Austin has recently adopted forward-looking conservation measures in the City Code.  Though newly implemented and not yet saving water, these policies are expected to reduce future water demand for new commercial and residential customers and are considered successes.

• Commercial Onsite Water Reuse Ordinance – Since December 1, 2024, new commercial and multifamily buildings over 250,000 sq. ft. must use reclaimed water or onsite reuse (e.g., rainwater, AC condensate) for non-potable uses like irrigation and toilet flushing.  Buildings under 250,000 sq. ft. must connect to reclaimed water if within 250 feet of supply lines.  This code can meet 31-100% of non-potable needs and is projected to save about 6 million gallons daily by 2040 (~5% of 2023 usage). 

​To date, Austin and San Francisco are the only U.S. cities with such a mandate.

• Residential Codes – In April of 2025, Austin changed its Residential plumbing code applying to new single-family dwellings in three significant ways.

The first two, a requirement to limit underground irrigation systems to 50% of the landscaped area, and requirements for Pressure Relief Valves, will save the equivalent of 22% of what the average Austin home consumed in 2023.

A third code change, “laundry-to-landscape” connections allowing gray water from clothes washing to be diverted for irrigation, will save about 7% of what the average Austin home consumed in 2023.  It has an estimated cost of only $109 (though an outside distribution system would also have to be installed).

7. High Cost of Water
Rising water rates, driven by higher costs for treatment and supply infrastructure, ironically, encourages conservation.  There is even an official term for this: “price elasticity.”  

In the past, Austin Water estimated that for every 10% rate increase above inflation, water demand would drop by about 1.7%. Using this formula, with utility costs up 60% (adjusted for inflation), demand could have fallen about 10% due to high costs by 2023.

This chart contrasts rising costs to lower consumption. Excessive water costs were not the only driver of Austin’s falling water use. But they were a noticeable contributor.

Below are two examples of excessive water costs that have raised Austin rates.

In conclusion, some of Austin’s water conservation efforts really have worked.  But other fundamental strategies have been complacently ignored or postponed.  The third story in this series will discuss these failed or challenged conservation efforts.

DO YOUR PART! Sign Up for ATX Water
 
Austin Water’s new electronic meters allow you to monitor your consumption on an annual, monthly, daily, and even hourly basis.  It also allows you to benchmark consumption between your home’s previous and current usage, and average homes around the city.
 
This tool allows you to adjust your consumption based on feedback.  And it allows you to screen for leaks of any notable size.  (If there is water consumption at 3 in the morning when water is generally unused, you probably have a problem.)
 
Sign up at: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/my-atx-water

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Paul Robbins, is an environmental activist, consumer advocate, and editor of the Austin Environmental Directory.  The Directory is a sourcebook of green issues, organizations, products, and services in Central Texas.