Austin Watering Rules

If you’ve got questions about the newly implemented Austin watering rules, what you can do and what you can’t, better to ask than risk running foul of the water police. If you receive a citation and you do not make efforts to change the situation you could be faced with a $475 fine.

After this second week of the new watering rules, there were 675 complaints made to the city by neighbors and homeowners against their own neighbors. This is up from the 586 from the first week, up just over 15%.

It can be confusing to know what’s OK and what’s not and getting used to our neighbors perhaps watching what we do.

If your address is an odd number – you can water on Saturdays between the midnight and 10am and between 7pm and midnight.

If your address is an even number – you can water on Sundays with those same time restrictions.

You can hand water anytime – but you can not leave a sprinkler at the end of a hose and just let it run unless its on your day of watering and not between 10 am and 7 pm.

So if you’re thinking about all that water you use to wash dishes and clothes – you could be interested in some grey water options. Grey water is water that you wouldn’t drink but still could serve a purpose such as watering your lawn and trees or washing your car. Its a ways off but at some point the City of Austin could offer fresh and grey water to homes in the city.

But until that time, you could collect up water leftover in glasses or washing in the sink – even with a little soap in it, and save that in a bucket to water roses or trees or potted plants.

So in the meantime watch your usage. If you have more questions contact waterwiseaustin.com