Texas City Flooded With Complaints About Watering Violations

The City of Austin, Texas, has been lenient on water restriction violators because it is still trying to educate people, officials said.

Since May 1, residential customers have not been allowed to run yard sprinklers between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Odd-numbered residential addresses are allowed to water on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and even-numbered addresses can water on Thursdays and Sundays.

Commercial water restrictions, which have been in effect since October, allow watering on Tuesdays and Fridays but also prohibit watering between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Not everyone is following the rules. Since the restrictions went into effect, the city has received 1,441 complaints about people using sprinkler systems at prohibited times or on the wrong days.

"Most people in violation are not aware of what the rules are," said Daryl Slusher, assistant director of environmental affairs for the city's water department. "We get more support from people if we don't immediately start punishing them."

Employees of the city's Water Utility have, however, issued three citations since May.

One was issued Thursday at the Marquis at Great Hills apartment complex on Great Hills Trail in North Austin. The apartment complex had been watering on the wrong days even after Emily Young, a planner for the city's water department, warned them, she said. Young said she checked the complex again at 6 a.m. Thursday and found it was still in violation because water sprinklers were on in a section of grass.

Young fined the complex $500 for watering on the wrong day and $166 for runoff.

Alice Lara, who said she was in charge of landscaping at the complex, said she knew about the water restrictions and so did the landscaper that worked for her. "I don't know what happened," she said, adding that it was hard to follow the restrictions.

"It's just too dry, and everything is dying," she said. "We've had to replace the flowers four times out front."

A manager at the apartment complex said Thursday that the timers for the water sprinklers would be adjusted to comply with the restrictions.

Young said she wrote another citation Tuesday at Southpark Meadows at 9300 Interstate 35 South. She had previously warned the landscaper because there had been complaints about watering during the day, she said.

"I sat there for five to 10 minutes and watched trucks go through the water runoff, and nobody stopped to turn off the sprinkler," she said.

The citation — $166 for watering during a prohibited time and $166 for runoff — was issued to Clean Scapes Landscaping. A representative for the company did not return calls for comment Thursday.

The third citation that the city has written since May was issued to the Oak Ridge Apartments at 3517 North Hills Drive on June 19, Young said.

"They were watering every afternoon," she said.

The apartment complex, which was warned, was fined $500 for watering during the wrong day and $166 for watering during a prohibited time, she said. A representative for the apartment complex did not return a call for comment Thursday.

Many of the complaints that the city gets are about people breaking the water restrictions in the Avery Ranch and Circle C areas, said Amanda Dewees, a conservation program specialist with the city's Water Utility.

"People are not aware of the restrictions, even though we put information in their bills and on billboards and on television," she said.

The city not only issues warnings, but it also provides free help if people need it to set the timing properly on their water sprinklers, said Kevin Buchman, a spokesman for the city's Water Utility.