As communities have grown and the demand for safe drinking water has increased, the approach to water conservation has changed. The new emphasis is on using water efficiently before water supplies are diminished to a point where water conservation is required. The City of Wenatchee is committed to ensuring that current and future water needs are met for area citizens. The City’s Water Use Efficiency and Xeriscape brochures provide helpful information on how you can use water more efficiently.

The Washington State Legislature passed the 2003 Municipal Water Law (MWL) to reform the state’s water laws. It added flexibility in the use of municipal water rights but required municipalities to use water efficiently.

Municipalities must publicly establish water savings goals for their customers, develop a program to support these established goals and yearly evaluate and report the progress towards the goal. This is the demand or customer-side goal.

The municipality must also have a program for the supply or distribution side of the water system. The municipality must achieve a standard of no more than 10% water loss, this is unaccounted for water lost through leaks, stolen water and inaccurate water meters.

Water Use Efficiency Goals

Based on the public input that was received through outreach efforts, the Wenatchee City Council adopted a customer water usage goal of reducing residential water use to 125 gallons per capita per day by December 31, 2024.  At the time that the goal was set the average daily use was 135 gallons per capita per day.  The projected savings of this goal is estimated to be 10 gallons per person per day or about 100 million gallons over the course of a year. 

The Distribution System Leakage (unaccounted for water) for 2020 was calculated to be 15.8% and the resulting 3-year average was 15.1%.  The City's goal is to reduce distribution system leakage to 10% or less by December 31, 2024.  We are working to reach this goal by implementing a water loss control plan within our system.  The City has known leakage at two of the concrete reservoirs.  They are being monitored and work to replace one of the reservoirs is scheduled to begin in 2025.

Annual Performance Report:

• 2023 Water Use Efficiency Report (pdf) 

Fix a Leak Week - March 18-24, 2024 is the Environmental Protection Agency's Annual Fix a Leak Week.

• More than 1 trillion gallons of water are lost annually nationwide due to easy to fix leaks inside and outside American homes.  1 trillion gallons is equivalent  to the water use in over 11 million homes.
• When looking for leaks check in the kitchen, all bathrooms and outdoors.
• Fixing a leaking toilet can make a noticeable difference in your water bill. 
• If a leak can't be repaired and the fixture needs to be replaced look for an EPA "Water Sense" labeled model.  Water Sense labeled toilets, faucets and shower heads are independently certified to use at least 20% less water while still meeting EPA's strict performance criteria.

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