The San Antonio Water System says it is dropping, at least for now, the idea of making once a week watering permanent as a way to conserve water, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In a presentation to a City Council committee which had requested a report on the idea, SAWS President Robert Puente says due to the laws covering water use, restricting homeowners from watering their lawns more than once a week would not result in much actual 'savings' of water.
"That water stays in the Aquifer, subject to be use by other pumpers, subject to being discharged from the springs, and subject to the permit that we have," Puente said. "We have a set permit on how much water we can take out of the Aquifer, so any water that we 'saved,' in quotation marks, is not really saved."
SAWS is under pressure from environmental activists for investing billions in the Vista Ridge Water Supply Project, a massive pipeline to bring water in from Burleson County without fully, in their opinion, moving quickly enough to impose new conservation restrictions.
"If you do once a week watering, it shaves off some of the peak periods that we are able to sell a lot of water," Puente said, pointing out that, ironically, going to once a week watering might force SAWS to raise rates, because peak water sales would be reduced, reducing income to the utility.
Puente pointed out that water conservation efforts are in fact working, with per capita consumption down from 220 gallons per day in 1982 to fewer than 120 gallons per person today.
He said new low flow water fixtures and a general 'habit of conservation' have led to the decline in water usage.
Consultants hired by SAWS pointed out that several factors affect water use, mainly the heat of the afternoon and the length of the time since the last serious rainfall, and that has more to do with water consumption than frequent lawn watering.
In fact, Council Joe Krier said drastic reductions in lawn watering might even cut into the City's budget. He says if lawns start turning brown and landscaping starts to die, that would drastically decrease a property's value, resulting in lower property tax collections.
Currently, in times of no drought, like now, SAWS customers are allowed to water their laws any day they like, as long as they do it during certain hours, when evaporation is kept to a minimum. Once a week watering kicks in when the Aquifer falls below 660 feet (it's above 680 feet today), and stricter restrictions take effect in terms of severe drought, like during the drought of 2011 to 2015.
Puente said once a week watering makes more sense as a drought management tool than as a conservation tool.