Leavenworth City Council Accept 2023-2028 Water Efficiency Goals

Leavenworth City council accepted the proposed 2023-2028 Water Efficiency Goals on June 14. The city hopes to reduce their water usage dramatically after last year’s unusually hot summer.

The city’s current goals are due to expire by the end of 2022 and are updated every six years. 

Last year, the city amassed over 45k gallons of water more than the year prior due to the unusually hot summer combined with the influx of new residents. 

“We do know that we have an aging infrastructure,”  Communications Analyst Christie Voos said. “So identifying the holes in the pipes, or the leaking connections is where we're going to attack the problem of having high leakage in our system in that distribution portion between where we produce the water in between where the residents and businesses start to be metered.”

During the meeting, Public Works Director Tom Wachholder reported that the city may need to provide a Water System Plan update in the near future.

The city also has a 24% distribution system leakage rate, with reportedly 20 leaks last year. Voos said that the city contracted American Leak Detection to help fix the leak problems sometime this summer or fall.

City Hall have drafted the following goals, although additional goals may be added:

• Maintain a distribution system leakage (DSL) below 10%.
• Reducing residential seasonal outdoor water usage by 2%, or 200 gallons per day per Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) by Dec. 31, 2028.
• Metering all construction and non-emergent fire camp hydrant usage by Dec. 31, 2028.