Water restrictions across the texas hill country
Why Does Your Cousin in Boerne Water on a Different Day Than You?
Here's a genuinely confusing thing about living in the Texas Hill Country: your water restrictions might have nothing to do with your neighbor's, even if you live fifteen minutes apart. Move from San Antonio to Boerne to Bulverde and you're not just crossing a city line — you're switching water providers, switching stage systems, and sometimes switching from "once a week" to "once every other week" entirely.
Nobody explains this well, so let's actually break it down.
"There's no single Texas drought stage — every provider runs its own system."
The Big Idea: There's No Single "Texas Drought Stage"
This is the part that trips people up. There's no statewide water restriction system in Texas. Every city, utility, or water district sets its own rules, names its own stages, and ties them to its own local water source. What triggers Stage 2 in one system might be called Stage 1 in another, or might not exist as a category at all.
Find Your Provider
Tied to the Edwards Aquifer
SAWS tracks the Edwards Aquifer's J-17 monitoring well. As the 10-day rolling average drops, the city moves through Stage 1 to Stage 4, each with tighter watering limits and, in some stages, usage surcharges on top-tier water users.
Check current stage at saws.org →Its own city-run system
Boerne runs a separate drought contingency plan from SAWS. The city recently restructured how it names its stages — what used to be called Stage 2 is now Stage 1, with the same underlying watering rules. Worth double-checking directly, since the renaming alone trips people up.
Check current stage at ci.boerne.tx.us →A private utility with its own supply challenges
Bulverde and Spring Branch are served by Texas Water Company, not SAWS or Boerne Utilities. This system has its own separate stage schedule and a track record of moving into sudden "emergency" restrictions during high-demand weeks — sometimes with just a day's notice.
Check current stage at txwaterco.com →Often a different provider entirely
Smaller Hill Country communities are frequently served by local utilities or private wells, each with rules that don't necessarily match any of the systems above. If you're unsure who your provider is, a recent water bill is the fastest way to find out.
So How Do These Stages Actually Work?
Even though every utility runs its own version, most systems share the same underlying logic:
Tied to a Real Source
Aquifer well levels, reservoir percentages, or storage capacity — not a guess, a direct measurement.
Step Up as Conditions Worsen
From once-a-week toward once every other week, then toward emergency indoor-only limits.
Can Change Fast
Rain can ease a stage down. A demand spike or main break can trigger an emergency stage overnight.
How to Actually Find Out What Applies to You
Since this changes and varies by provider, here's the fastest way to get your real, current answer:
Check a recent water bill, or search "[your city] water utility."
Skip general search results, which often surface outdated aggregator pages.
This gets you the current, official answer — not a cached one.
Usually assigned by the last digit of your street address.
None of these rules apply to artificial turf.
Stages can rename themselves, aquifers can rise and fall, and your provider can announce an emergency restriction with a day's notice — and a turf lawn just keeps looking the same, because it was never part of the system to begin with.
Frequently Asked Questions
— let's talk
Tired of tracking which stage you're in?
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