{"id":293069,"date":"2026-05-14T16:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/293069\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:05:29","slug":"smart-meters-have-saved-austin-texas-more-than-a-billion-of-gallons-of-water-utility-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/293069\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart meters have saved Austin, Texas, more than a billion of gallons of water, utility says"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published on Smart Cities Dive<\/a>. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Smart Cities Dive newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Austin, Texas, is leaking. And it\u2019s not alone.<\/p>\n

Large Texas cities have aging and insufficient water pipes that lose billions of gallons of water<\/a> every year due to leaks and water main breaks, according to the Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n

Austin\u2019s water losses have been steadily increasing since 2021<\/a>, reaching 9.3 billion gallons in 2024<\/a>, KXAN reported. That\u2019s 31% higher than the 7.1 billion gallons lost in 2023 \u2014 enough to fill Lake Austin, an audit found.<\/p>\n

A digital smart meter initiative is now helping Austin monitor and address leaks faster, officials say.<\/p>\n

Austin Water\u2019s My ATX Water program is gradually modernizing<\/a> the utility\u2019s water metering system with digital smart meters that provide customers with near-real-time data via a portal and can detect and alert customers to potential leaks.<\/p>\n

The utility has installed around 267,000 wireless smart meters since 2020 and estimates they have saved 1.2 billion gallons of water through leak notifications and repairs since 2021. The initiative was recognized this spring in the IDC Smart Cities North America Awards.<\/p>\n

Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson said in a March news release that the utility is using technology that can make an impact on the community.<\/p>\n

“Our My ATX Water Portal gives our customers the power and tools they need to play an active role in protecting Austin’s water supply, with our dedicated teams supporting them every step of the way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Along with alerting users to potential leaks, the smart water system offers daily water-usage reports, water-budgeting tools and water conservation opportunities. The program is helping to build \u201ca more sustainable water future for generations to come,\u201d Roalson said.<\/p>\n

The city is also replacing insufficient water pipes and secured $45 million from the state last year to upgrade its polybutylene pipes<\/a>. Polybutylene, a material that was popular from the 1960s to the 1980s, becomes brittle over time and is prone to leaks, according to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpgrading these pipes will significantly enhance efficiency and help reduce water loss,\u201d the city said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Recommended Reading <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published on Smart Cities Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,31380,15709,107074,27,3218,107073,107072,2646],"class_list":["post-293069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-austin-water","tag-gallons-of-water","tag-smart-meter","tag-texas","tag-water-conservation","tag-water-loss","tag-water-losses","tag-water-supply"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}