For City Utilities, 2025 was a year of extraordinary milestones and achievements.
News release from Fort Wayne City Utilities:
City Utilities 2025: A Year of Remarkable Accomplishments
A Generation of River Renewal • 25 Years of Safe Water Excellence • Building System Resilience • Commitment to CustomersFort Wayne, Indiana (December 30, 2025) – For City Utilities, 2025 was a year of extraordinary milestones and achievements. The Utility earned national recognition for 25 years of excellence in safe water management and celebrated the successful completion of its 18-year Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) and federal Consent Decree—one of the most complex infrastructure efforts in the community’s history. City Utilities also launched new resiliency initiatives to convert methane biogas generated from waste into natural gas and continued to connect directly with residents through the Lead Service Line Replacement Program, helping them replace the lead line on their property.
The core focus of each of these efforts has been strengthening essential services while protecting public health, public safety and the environment and supporting economic growth. City Utilities delivered on each of these endeavors even as it seamlessly provided customers with the high-quality services they rely on every day.
Completed on schedule under federal oversight, the LTCP represents nearly two decades of sustained investment to protect neighborhoods, reduce basement backups and restore the health of Fort Wayne’s rivers. As a result of this work, more than 90 percent of what was once combined sewage entering local rivers is now captured and conveyed through the Deep Rock Tunnel to the wastewater treatment plant for full treatment, significantly improving water quality in the St. Marys, St. Joseph and Maumee rivers. From 2008 to 2025, this feat marks a generation of river renewal and safeguarding neighborhoods.
With the LTCP complete, City Utilities continues to build on that foundation through targeted neighborhood investments, including one that advances drinking water safety at the household level through our Lead Service Line Replacement Program.
In 2025, residents in Census Tract 16, including the Harvester and East Side neighborhoods, joined City Utilities in highlighting the completion of a project that saw more than 90 percent of the homes change out their private lead lines. Likewise, Tract 9, the Hamilton neighborhood, also saw a participation rate of more than 90 percent. City Utilities secured grant funding to target low-income neighborhoods with large populations under 17 and homes built before 1937.
City Utilities spent 2025 engaging residents and stakeholders through more than 50 project meetings and public meetings focused on the next 5-year phase of infrastructure investment. These discussions were centered on plans for:
- More than 70 miles of water main replacement to replace deteriorating pipes
- More than 60 miles of sewer pipe lining – extending their life by 75-100 years
- More than 50 large neighborhood stormwater projects to address flooding and drainage issues
- Continuing efforts to reduce costs and seek grants, in line with the $40 million saved and secured over the past five years
- Continuing efforts to train and educate college and high school students through our internship and apprenticeship programs
City Utilities also advanced resiliency in 2025 through a multi-year partnership with NIPSCO to convert methane biogas from the wastewater treatment plant into natural gas, strengthening essential services while turning waste into a resource. Combined with our floating solar array, City Utilities will save millions in energy costs over the next few decades, helping keep future rate increases down.
The Utility’s long-standing commitment to performance and accountability was further recognized in 2025 with the Partnership for Safe Water’s 25-Year Directors Award, honoring 25 consecutive years of meeting or exceeding the industry’s highest standards for water treatment and system management.
“Our 2025 milestones reflect a culture of excellence. I am so proud of what our team accomplished in 2025,” said Kumar Menon, Director of City Utilities. “From safe drinking water to river and neighborhood protection, our mission remains the same—to protect public health, ensure public safety, safeguard the environment, and support economic development—while continuing to invest responsibly in the community’s future.”
Looking ahead to 2026, City Utilities will continue working across water, stormwater and sanitary sewer systems, with several projects already under construction and others scheduled to begin next year.
On the water side, water main replacements will occur in the neighborhoods of Bloomingdale and Hamilton, where additional homeowner lead lines will be replaced. Also, lead line replacement will continue in the neighborhoods of Creighton-Home, Hoagland Masterson, Poplar, and Williams-Woodland Park and a new feeder main to improve service for several neighborhoods around Lake Avenue will be installed.
Sewer work next year will include lining nine miles of pipe, extending their life by 75-100 years, and installing a new force main along St. Joe Center Road.
Stormwater improvements will take place along the Bullerman Drain and in the neighborhoods of Country Club Gardens and Lincolndale.
More 2026 projects will be announced in the spring.
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