At their last meeting in December, when City Council members approved annexation for the Pilot Knob Planned Unit Development, they agreed to give up $50 million to $80 million in fee waivers for installation of water and wastewater lines over the next 20 years, according to a utility spokesman. The money that the developer would […]
Austin Water Utility
AWU is the municipal utility that provides water service for the City of Austin.
Posted inResources, Water
Council members react to water meter audit
Although Austin Water and Austin Energy staff said at a City Council Public Utilities Committee meeting Wednesday that recent audits found the city’s water billing system to be accurate, the Council members who sit on that body said they still have unresolved concerns. The water meter read and testing audit, performed by independent utility consultant […]
Posted inWater
LCRA lowers water rate for cities, municipalities
The Lower Colorado River Authority is “making it rain” – savings, that is. The river authority’s board of directors approved a proposal on Wednesday to lower water rates for “firm” customers, typically cities and municipalities in Central Texas, starting in January. The measure will undo this year’s drought-related increase, dropping rates from $175 to $145 […]
Posted inWater
Central Texas water management plan updated
The Central Texas drought may continue, but the days of uncertainty about how to handle the water on which Austinites and others depend appear to be over for the foreseeable future. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved a major amendment to the Lower Colorado River Authority’s water management plan on Wednesday that sets stricter […]
Posted inWater
City to ask for rehearing in water rate case
The battle over water rates for more than 46,000 Austin Water customers is not over, it appears. Austin Water Assistant Director David Anders told the Austin Monitor on Tuesday that the city intends to adhere to an order – issued earlier this month by the Public Utility Commission of Texas – to reset rates for […]
Posted inWater
Zimmerman water resolution not legal
City Council Member Don Zimmerman has failed in his attempt to give water utility money back to some of the customers who used the most water and had the highest bills during August. Zimmerman had proposed directing the city manager to compare residential and multifamily monthly usage for this year to monthly usage for 2014 […]
Posted inWater
PUC resets rates for thousands of Austin Water customers
More than 46,000 Austin Water customers are getting their rates lowered, based on an order that the Public Utility Commission of Texas handed down to the city of Austin on Thursday. In addition, the city will have to request approval from the commission before setting future rates for the customers involved. The changes apply to […]
Posted inDevelopment
Water utility relaxes rules for granny flats
After hearing complaints about new requirements for waterlines, water meters and wastewater lines from contractors, architects and people hoping to build granny flats in their backyards, Austin Water utility Director Greg Meszaros has issued three memos that allow exceptions to the expensive changes previously enacted. City Council Member Greg Casar, who chairs the Council Neighborhoods […]
Posted inWater
High water bills remain a puzzle (or maybe not)
Although various citizens complained to the Council Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday about their high water bills and the trouble those bills were causing them, there was no aha! moment during which the source of the puzzlingly high water usage was revealed. Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros did explain that water bills spike nearly every August […]
Posted inWater
PUC calls for order to reset certain water rates
The Public Utility Commission of Texas started a process Friday that could ultimately require Austin Water to reset water and wastewater rates for a group of customers that has challenged the city. The commission approved, with some exceptions, a proposal for decision that administrative law judges Pratibha Shenoy and Beth Bierman filed in July on […]
Posted inWater
Regional leaders work on wastewater issues
Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Dripping Springs Mayor Todd Purcell on Monday convened what Adler called “a pretty unique regional meeting of leaders to address the common challenge of growth and water and wastewater issues – potentially in a way that the whole region can get behind.” He told the Austin Monitor, “It was exciting […]
Posted inDevelopment
Committees fail to agree on Whisper Valley deal
A relatively small change in an agreement between the city and the developer of the Whisper Valley and Indian Hills Public Improvement Districts has failed to win approval from two committees charged with making such decisions and passing them on to the full City Council. Representatives of the Austin Water utility as well as city […]