Arlington Wins $2M Conservation Grant from Bureau of Reclamation

Published on April 27, 2023

Person checking water meter reads from a mobile device in right hand with water and lemon in a glass in left hand.

By Traci Peterson, Arlington Water Utilities

Arlington Water Utilities has been awarded $2 million in federal funds to complete the City’s transition to remotely read water meters, the U.S. Department of Interior announced last week. The water department will receive a WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency Grant, which is a competitive grant program administered by the Bureau of Reclamation. The program received enhanced funding because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.

More than 91,000 Arlington Water Utilities customers have had remotely read water meters installed in the past 10 years. The federal funding will pay for almost half of the remaining meter replacement costs and allow the replacement project to be completed about a year earlier than expected. Remotely read meters improve meter accuracy and provide customers with reliable and real-time access to water use data. Finishing the remote read water meter program is expected to result in annual water savings of 5,530 acre-feet, or about 1.8 billion gallons.

On Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation announced over $140 million in WaterSMART grant funding for 84 projects in 15 western states. The projects are expected to save over 230,000 acre-feet of water annually. This is equivalent to 77 billion gallons of water, enough water for more than 940,000 people, according to the federal office.

 

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