Abilene Loses About 450 Million Gallons of Water a Year

ABILENE, Texas - According to a water loss audit required by the Texas Water Code, millions of gallons of water are lost every year in Abilene.

Rodney Taylor, director of Water Utilities in Abilene, said, out of the 7,000,000,000 gallons of water in the Abilene system, 6.7 percent is considered as water loss.

That loss is equal to about 450 million gallons, and costs more than $800,000.

According to a local news source, this loss is broken down into two categories.

“Inaccuracies of meter readings at the customer or illegal consumption by the customer at the point of sale at the meter is apparent loss," Taylor said.

The other category, or real losses, occur in the distribution system, and is the result of an aging infrastructure. Like many Texas cities and towns, most Abilene water mains were made of cast iron, which corrodes over time and creates leaks.

Flournoy Plumbing Owner Steve Walker said, “A lot of these lines were put in 30 years ago, that run from the meter to the home. These lines are steel and they degrade over the years and breakdown and start leaking."

Walker told the news source that he gets almost four calls a day regarding water leakage. He says these lines are fairly old and the city needs to address this issue.

Like Abilene, San Angelo faces an aging infrastructure.