The San Antonio City Council unanimously approved new drought rules Thursday that will have the San Antonio Water System do away with city-issued citations that require residents and businesses to pay a $137 fee and go to municipal court.
Instead, the municipally owned water utility would charge the violator a fee directly on their SAWS bill, freeing them of the obligation to go to court.
The new rules will also change how SAWS’ Stage 3 and 4 restrictions are triggered; implement a drought surcharge on high-use customers in Stage 3 and beyond; shift SAWS’ allotted watering hours; and put limits on how often customers are allowed to run their drip irrigation systems during drought.
The new watering hours are effective immediately, SAWS said in a press release issued Thursday. SAWS customers who are high water users could see the effects of the new surcharge on their bills as soon as August, said SAWS Communications Director Anne Hayden.
The new watering hours will be from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 9 p.m. to midnight. The change is intended to reduce the amount of power SAWS uses during peak hours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“These changes create a more fair and efficient system for all of our customers — even those that reside outside of San Antonio city limits,” said SAWS Vice President of Conservation Karen Guz. “San Antonio is in the fifth year of drought, and we are seeing Edwards Aquifer water levels continue to drop.”
The City Council’s vote came after several public comments and a brief discussion by the council members who spoke largely in favor of the new rules and thanked the public commenters for their input.
SAWS’ board of trustees approved the new rules unanimously at a special meeting on May 23. The utility’s board of trustees was first presented with the proposed drought rule changes last August.
While most of the proposed rule changes remained the same since they were first presented to the board, SAWS did compromise its proposed changes to drip irrigation — a type of irrigation system where water is run through pipes with small holes in them that are buried or lying slightly above the ground to irrigate grass or crops at the root.
Originally the proposed drought rules included limiting drip irrigation watering to one day a week during drought. However, under the reformed changes, drip irrigation will be allowed up to three days a week, depending on which drought stage SAWS is in.
Drip irrigation is a “very important component” of the new rules, said Laurie Casias, a public commenter Thursday who identified herself as the owner of a local landscaping company, Best Landscapes LLC. Casias thanked SAWS for compromising on how often to allow drip irrigation under the new rules.
“We appreciate the process that SAWS has done,” she said. “We started discussions on this last September and October, and it’s been very deliberate — all the different components of the ordinance changes have been well thought out and included stakeholders participation throughout the entire process.”
Under the new rules, when SAWS is in Stage 3 restrictions, the utility will charge a residential customer $10.37 per 1,000 gallons for anything over 20,000 gallons. In Stage 4, that threshold drops to $10.37 per 1,000 gallons for anything over 12,000 gallons for residential customers.
Commercial customers will also be subject to surcharges but the thresholds will be determined by the meter size.
Stage 3 drought restrictions
SAWS Stage 3 drought restrictions will now also align with the trigger points set by the Edwards Aquifer Authority. That means Stage 3 restrictions will begin when the 10-day average of the Edwards Aquifer monitoring well, called the J-17, drops below 640 feet.
The Edwards Aquifer Authority is a groundwater district spanning seven counties that regulates how much water can be pumped out of the 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.
Because the Edwards Aquifer Authority currently has the San Antonio area under Stage 4 pumping restrictions, SAWS will begin the process of implementing its new Stage 3 with a public notice, Hayden said. The new drought stage will be effective sometime late next week, Hayden added.
Council members commended the new rules Thursday, noting that protecting quantity and quality of the Edwards Aquifer — the San Antonio area’s main source of drinking water — will continue to be vital as the effects of climate change become more severe.
These changes are vital to San Antonio, said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who serves on the SAWS board in his official capacity.
“I feel good about where we’re landing with this drought management policy given the stakes of our water supply going forward … and the extreme weather that we’re experiencing,” Nirenberg said.
