Don't look now, but they're starting to use the 'R' word, as in 'water rationing,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The Edwards Aquifer, which has stayed safely above the 660 foot trigger for Stage One water restrictions for nearly two years, is at 663 feet and slowing but surely falling.
When it its 660 feet, that will trigger Stage One restrictions, which mean we will be back to once a week lawn watering, based on the last digit of your street address, in addition to other restrictions.
Gretchen Reuwer of New Braunfels Utilities says the problem isn't so much lack of rain, as we have been getting scattered showers for the last several days.
She says the problem as we move into July is that, when it starts getting this hot, water usage goes through the roof.
"We've gone up from 10 and a half million gallons at day in the NBU water system, and that was at the beginning of May," she said. "Here we are at the end of June, the beginning of July, and we're already up to 18 million gallons a day."
She says restrictions would bring down that usage, which is the most effective way to slow the downward movement of the Aquifer and prevent the more serious water restrictions we got used to during the drought of 2011-2014.
"When we get to 660 we would be looking at going into Stage One water restrictions," she said.
Right now its difficult to see when, or if, those restrictions may be needed. We are not in a drought, and rain keeps falling, and that rain reduces the strong water usage as well.