Hot and dry springtime means water restrictions
Aquifer agency already has taken conservation step
Sunny. Temperatures in the 90s. No real rain in sight. Sounds like late June in San Antonio.
Only it’s early April. And drought conditions are bad enough that the Edwards Aquifer Authority is looking to conserve water by limiting pumping from the aquifer, the main water source for the region.
The San Antonio Water System, the biggest municipal pumper from the aquifer, was already in Stage 1 restrictions, meaning residents and businesses are allowed to water outdoors just once a week with sprinklers. The restrictions actually have been in place since Oct. 16, and SAWS held to those all winter even though the EAA had not enacted its Stage 1 pumping cut of 20 percent until about two weeks ago.
A San Antonio ordinance allows SAWS to remain in Stage 1 “since the city has not received significant rainfall for some time,” utility spokeswoman Anne Hayden said.
“For advice to homeowners, we’d like to remind them that once per week (watering) is excellent for landscape health,” she added. “And, of course, customers can hand-water whenever needed.”
Sprinklers and hoses could come in handy over the next week when a mini-heat wave will drive temperatures into the 90s or slightly below, compared with average highs for this time of year in the upper 70s.
Rain continues to be scarce, as it has been for the last two years. In an average year, San Antonio’s rainfall total is about 32 inches. But the city officially recorded about 22 inches in 2019 and 20 inches last year. In the first quarter of this year, it has seen just under 3 inches.
The northern half of Bexar County is in the “severe drought” stage, the third-worst category, with the southern half in the slightly less drastic
“moderate drought” category, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The worst drought conditions in Texas are in the lower Rio Grande Valley, far West Texas and the western Panhandle.
The shortage of rain is hurting not only the aquifer but also Medina Lake.
According to data from the Texas Water Development Board, Medina Lake was 72.7 percent full a year ago but is now only 36.3 percent full as the region approaches the summer months. The lake, about 30 miles west of San Antonio, has steadily fallen nearly 24 feet in the past year.
The last time the lake saw a long-term precipitous drop was in 2011, shrinking to less than 3 percent of its capacity by 2014, before storms broke one of the worst droughts on record in 2015, allowing a return of boating and fishing.
Although SAWS maintains rights to water from Medina Lake, the utility is not drawing any from it, Hayden said.
As for the aquifer, the EAA, which regulates groundwater pumping in the region, put Stage 1 reductions in effect March 24, after the 10-day average of the main index well in Bexar County dropped below 660 feet above mean sea level — the trigger point for limits. As of Monday, the 10day average was down to 657.2 feet
Stage 1 means people from Bexar, Atascosa, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays and Medina counties using the aquifer’s groundwater need to reduce their water consumption by about 20 percent in order to stabilize water levels. The reductions apply to all Edwards Aquifer groundwater permit holders, including SAWS, that are authorized to pump more than 3 acre-feet annually.
Stage 2 of the drought management plan, mandating a 30 percent pumping reduction, is triggered when the 10-day average falls below 650 feet.
For SAWS customers, Stage 1 rules permit the use of irrigation systems, sprinklers or soaker hoses only on a designated watering day by address: Mondays for addresses ending in 0 or 1; Tuesdays, 2 or 3; Wednesdays, 4 or 5; Thursdays, 6 or 7; and Fridays, 8 or 9. Sprinkler watering on a designated day is allowed only before 11 a.m. or after 7 p.m. Watering with a hand-held hose is permitted at any time on any day.
Alamo Heights, which has its own water system, also is in Stage 1, and the city will update its website this week to provide information on its once-a-week watering restrictions, a city spokesman said.
If the aquifer continues to drop and Stage 2 restrictions come into play, sprinkler watering on a designated day is limited to 7 to 11 a.m. and 7 to 11 p.m., and watering with drip irrigation or a 5-gallon bucket is limited to those hours on any day.
The U.S. Climate Prediction Center has forecast a 40 percent chance of below-normal rainfall across most of Texas through midjune and a 60 percent chance of above-average temperatures for the same period.