2025 Tacoma Water Highlights

Our outreach, education, and marketing efforts support responsible water use and long-term resource stewardship. 

• Customers reduced water consumption by 0.13%. 

• Issued 85 residential and 29 commercial Smart Irrigation Rebates for weather-based controllers. 

•  Mailed 850 water-saving kits to households.  

• Provided rebates for ENERGY STAR® commercial kitchen equipment.  

• Awarded more than $2,800 in customized rebates to help a Tacoma hotel replace outdated toilets with high-efficiency models. 

• Replaced 26 leaking residential service lines for a total of $205,000 in repair funds, saving over 45 million gallons of water. Eleven included grants for income-eligible households.  

• Helped eight customers enroll in income-based assistance, providing over $8,500 in bill support.  

• Attended 47 community events, reaching more than 6,500 people. 

Development activity remained strong in 2025. 

• Sold 601 stubs, almost double from 2024, indicating an increase in plat development.  

• Sold 797 meters, reflecting new homes additions and plat completions.  

• Processed 178 time-and-materials orders (12 residential, 74 multifamily, and 92 commercial/industrial). 

• Implemented new fixed-fee a’la-carte paving and flagging options. 

Completed a comprehensive supply-and-demand assessment with emphasis on groundwater. The plan supports long-term reliability and resiliency. 

Replaced about 23,000 linear feet of aging chemical feed piping to support water treatment reliability. 

Completed design work for the facility’s upgraded ozone system. 

Evaluated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) treatment alternatives and developed a long-term management plan to protect public health and meet regulatory requirements. 

We improved customer notifications, communications, and transparency. 

Leak Notification Enhancements

• Updated residential leak criteria to 48 (or more) consecutive hours of continuous flow, above 0.001 CCF (or about 3/4 gallon) to reduce false positives. Updated MyAccount email and text notifications with clearer explanations and a Spanish-language version. 

Customer Satisfaction Insights

• 68% rated water service 8–10 out of 10 based on customer survey by a third-party company. 

• Satisfied customers most often cited reliable service (27%), good water quality (24%), and reasonable water pressure (22%). 

• Less satisfied customers most often cited rates (35%), water quality (10%), and billing (8%). 

• 59% rated the value of water service positively; 42% said water rates were reasonable, an improvement from 2024. 

• 69% rated water quality highly, though clarity and taste saw slight declines. 

We supported our 304 employees through development, training, and engagement. 

Workforce Development

• State-recognized apprenticeship program 

• Leadership development opportunities 

• Operator in Training pathways 

• Knowledge-transfer initiatives 

Culture and engagement

• Mid-year and end-of-year employee appreciation events 

• Safety Leadership Team representing each workgroup 

• Water Equity Committee 

• Quarterly “Water Cooler” all-employee meetings 

• Installed a nursing pod to support employees returning from parental leave 

We improved system tools, documentation, and internal processes. 

• SAP upgrade allowed Tacoma Water to provide better service to customers and updated the system from one that was becoming obsolete. 

• Completed hydrant lifecycle documentation to support consistent operations.

Note: Corrective Actions and Leadership site visits were not standard operational expectations for all divisions, and the data may reflect this inconsistency. Additionally, due to limitations with the existing data platform, some divisions tracked their own data independently, some of which may or may not be fully represented here.  

We achieved strong safety performance through training, prevention, and readiness. Headworks completed the year with zero soft tissue injuries and zero reported injuries. 

• Completed nearly 1,000 confined space entries during the year with zero reported injuries. 

• Conducted a Tacoma Fire trench rescue and recovery exercise and established a 24-hour Heavy Equipment Operator on call process. 

Overall Safety Stats (2025 compared to 2024)

• Leadership Site Visits: More than 40 safety audits and 500+ safety tailgates 

• Total Recordable Injury Rates: 5.48 (up from 3.87) 

• DART (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred) Rate: 3.65 (up from 1.93) 

We strengthened belonging through recognition, mentorship, and community partnerships. 

• Developed “History of Tacoma Water,” continued activities for New Water Employee Orientation, Water Equity Committee, and Water Leadership Forum. 

• Recognized staff excellence through the Tacoma Water Appreciation Program (TAP). 

• Expanded outreach through school programs, a Women in Trades event, job fairs, internships, and the Apprenticeship Expo. 

We advanced transparency, environmental stewardship, and compliance. 

• Met three times with the Master Builders Association to share updates on construction charges, tax policy changes, and upcoming System Development Charges. 

• Participated in 48 community outreach events and connected with more than 3,000 customers. 

• Delivered youth education at 31 events and partnered with 26 organizations on conservation outreach. 

We advanced transparency, environmental stewardship, and compliance. 

• Published the 2025 Water Quality Report (webpage) or 2025 Water Quality Report (PDF) 

• Completed design for the new Water Warehouse. 

• Installed culverts and upgraded stream crossings on forest roads to handle100-year flood flows. 

• Salvaged more than 1,400 native plants from a forest thinning project for use in existing restoration sites. 

• Removed about 21,000 square feet of invasive weeds and planted 2,392 native plants. 

• Established asbestos cement water pipe best practices and implemented RF Radiation mitigation protocols. 

We strengthened emergency preparedness and community coordination. 

• Worked with partner agencies during incident responses, exercises, and trainings. 

• Responded to an early December atmospheric river that caused flooding, landslides, and road damage in the Green River Watershed while maintaining system operations. 

• Tacoma Water Women’s Tapping Team won the AWWA National Championship for the second consecutive year.