The San Antonio Water System officially entered Stage 3 watering restrictions for the first time in the utility’s 30-year history on Tuesday.
Under the new watering rules ordinance, which was approved by the City Council last week, all SAWS customers — including those outside of San Antonio’s city limits — must follow Stage 3 restrictions.
The new rules limit how often SAWS customers can run their drip irrigation systems (up to three times per week).
They also shift SAWS allotted watering hours earlier in the morning and later in the evening, allowing people to water their lawns and gardens with with an irrigation system, sprinkler system or soaker hose between 5-10 a.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight on customers’ allotted watering days.
Customers can water with individual hoses at any time.
The new rules also align SAWS Stage 3 triggers with the Edwards Aquifer Authority’s pumping restrictions and ensure that SAWS customers are fined directly onto their next bill if they are caught watering on off days or hours (rather than having to go through the municipal court process).
Customers are still allowed to run their regular sprinkler irrigation systems once per week, pushing off the more severe twice-a-month watering rules to an emergency-only Stage 4, said SAWS Vice President of Conservation Karen Guz.
“These changes encourage customers with very high outdoor use to reconsider their watering patterns in Stage 3,” Guz said. “In addition, going to a new administrative enforcement process with one-time charges on SAWS bills for violations rather than criminal citations creates a more efficient and fair process for all SAWS customers, regardless of where they live in the metro area.”
Watering days are still determined by the last digit of the address:
- 0 or 1 – Monday
- 2 or 3 – Tuesday
- 4 or 5 – Wednesday
- 6 or 7 – Thursday
- 8 or 9 – Friday
Watering with a hand-held hose is still allowed at any time on any day.
Moving forward, a high-use surcharge will apply to residential customers using 20,000 gallons or more during a billing cycle after July 6, SAWS said in a press statement issued Tuesday. Records of past citywide water use indicate that the surcharge would only affect the top 5% of water users, SAWS added.
The utility will now charge a residential customer $10.37 per 1,000 gallons for their use above 20,000 gallons. Commercial customers will also be subject to surcharges but the thresholds will be determined by the meter size.
Separately, the Edwards Aquifer Authority officially lifted its own Stage 4 Critical Period Management permit reduction requirements and announced a return to Stage 3 reductions for Edwards groundwater permit holders in the San Antonio on Tuesday as well.
The Edwards Aquifer Authority is the groundwater district that regulates how much water can be pumped out of the Edwards Aquifer in order to protect its springs and endangered species. Permit holders, such as SAWS, must reduce their pumping when the authority issues drought restrictions.
In years past, SAWS aligned with the authority’s trigger points for Stages 1 and 2 when it came to implementing the utility’s own drought restrictions, however the two entities historically differed in how their Stage 3 restrictions were triggered, with SAWS being able to decide unilaterally when to start them. Since implementing the stages system 20-plus years ago, SAWS has never declared Stage 3 restrictions for its customers until now.
The Edwards Aquifer makes up about half of the city’s available drinking water.
Watering rule violators will now have a fixed charge called a “non-compliance charge” added to their monthly bill; $137 for first-time offenders who are small water users using fewer than 1 million gallons per year per site, and $500 for large water users who use more than 1 million gallons per year per site.
Repeat offenders will be charged an increasing fixed rate for each violation. First-time offenders will have the option of waiving the fixed charge if they take an online education course, however, if they take the course and are found in violation again they will still be charged at the rate for a second violation.
Customers who want to protest the charge will still be able to do so, either by calling SAWS and talking to the conservation department or by going through a citizens committee organized by SAWS that would look at the disputed case.
