San Marcos enacts Stage 3 water restrictions amid severe drought

A Central Texas community known for its tubing and its mermaids is laying down the law on water consumption. The City of San Marcos is calling on its water customers to come together to protect their precious water resources. They are now in Stage 3 of their new drought contingency plan, and that's the top stage in the plan.

Much like Austin, San Marcos had a five-stage drought plan. But last spring they did some streamlining and narrowed the plan down to three levels.

Blame the drought. With no rain in more than a month, cities like San Marcos that rely heavily on underground water sources like the Edwards Aquifer are working harder to keep the water levels from dropping.

Under Stage 3 watering restrictions, San Marcos water customers can only use their automatic sprinkler system once every other week. In addition, at-home car washing, using and filling decorative water features, filling swimming pools, and washing impervious surfaces are all prohibited. Click here for more details on the San Marcos drought contingency plan.

Like other cities in Central Texas, San Marcos has been busy building up other water resources. But the city’s utilities director, Tyler Hjorth, says there is great financial incentive for the city to continue to get as much of its water as it can from the Edwards Aquifer. He told city council members, “Financially, Edwards is our cheapest supply by a factor of between two, three or five times our other water supplies. So to reduce pressure on rate increases, we optimize the use of our Edwards water.”

Ironically, the new watering restrictions hit San Marcos just six months after the city agreed to sell some of its water to the City of Kyle. Ahead of the agreement back in May, San Marcos was expected to have a surplus of water and Kyle was trying to keep from exceeding its own limit for drawing water from the Edwards aquifer.

BTW-- San Marcos residents who draw their own well water directly from the Edwards Aquifer under a permit need to know the Edwards Aquifer authority for the San Marcos area is currently in Stage 4. Click here for info on that.