The Denton Public Utilities Board on Sept. 29 recommended City Council adopt an updated Water Master Plan that projects faster growth on the city's perimeter and outlines roughly $1.124 billion in capital improvements over a 25-year planning window.

The update, presented by Kyle Pedego, planning and engineering division manager for Water Utilities, revises growth projections used to size treatment and conveyance infrastructure and shifts future needs outward from the downtown core. The board voted unanimously to recommend the plan to council; the item will be considered by City Council on Sept. 30.

Pedego told the board the 2018 master plan underestimated growth in western and northern areas — driven by industrial land use south of U.S. 380 and west of I-35 and by new residential developments such as Hunter and Cole — and overestimated infill growth. He said the update uses internal meter and customer data, known developments, the city’s comprehensive plan and North Central Texas Council of Governments projections to build a population base for capital planning.

The update projects an 8.6% growth rate over the 0–5 year window, tapering to 2.9% for years 5–10 and about 2.0% over the 25-year window, with 2025 trends described as “aggressive” and consistent with those projections. Pedego noted observed deviations by service area: service area 1a showed a roughly 65% reduction compared with 2018 projections, while service area 1b showed about a 185% increase; service area 2 showed about a 14% increase. (Service areas are growth-based regions established in the prior master plan, not separate physical water systems, Pedego said.)

Because of faster-than-expected perimeter growth and higher material and construction costs since 2018, the updated plan increases the estimated 25-year capital cost from $245,000,000 in the 2018 plan to about $1,124,000,000 in the current update. Pedego and board members emphasized the plan is a “living document” and will be updated periodically to reflect changing growth trends and to reprioritize projects.

Board members pressed staff on assumptions and update cadence. One member asked whether projections are based on land availability and zoning; Pedego said short-term (5–10 year) projections use known developments while 25-year projections rely on the comprehensive plan’s future land-use categories and associated population estimates. Board members asked for regular updates so council and the board can recalibrate costs if growth diverges from projections.

The master plan is intended to ensure compliance with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality planning and permitting standards, to prioritize projects that use existing capacity where feasible, to improve system operations and to preserve redundancy and reliability in water supply and treatment. The board’s recommendation now goes to City Council for consideration and adoption on Sept. 30.

The board also approved the Sept. 15 minutes and the consent agenda (items A–L) earlier in the meeting; those actions were unanimous.