As the current drought becomes more and more severe, residents of the greater San Antonio, Texas area are increasingly receiving citations for violating the City's water conservation ordinance. As a lawyer with an active water law practice, I'm frequently questioned about the legitimacy of these citations issued by "water cops," and whether "City Hall" has the right to make it criminal for citizens to water their lawns whenever they darn-well please.
Short answer is: "Yes, They CAN do that." And because they can, you'd better not shove that citation/summons in a drawer somewhere and forget about it.
The authority for "water cops" -- who are generally trained SAWS/BexarMet employees or off-duty police officers -- is found in Chapter 34, Article VI, of the San Antonio City Code. This is the Code containing all City ordinances, including what has become known as the "Conservation Ordinance" adopted in 1995. The entire ordinance contains several sections, but the real "meat" related to restrictions and enforcement appears in Section 34-288:
Sec. 34-288. Violations.
It shall be a violation punishable by city municipal fine for any San Antonio Water System water and/or waste water service customer residing or doing business within the corporate limits of the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction, to intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or criminally negligently to allow or cause water waste, to allow or cause landscape watering outside the prescribed hours for landscape watering, or to allow or cause any violation of any provision of this division or of the Aquifer Management Plan, Article IV, Division 4.
Section 34-290 of the Code authorizes the President/CEO of the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) to enforce watering restrictions "in the manner and to the extent allowed by law, including, but not limited to, filing complaints with the city municipal prosecutor's office for such violations, serving notices of violations and filing civil enforcement actions."
Because of this clear grant of authority by the City Council, citations issued by water cops are legitimate, and must not be ignored. Sometimes they are accompanied by a Summons, commanding alleged offenders to appear in Municipal Court to answer to a Judge.
That's right. Citations for violating mandatory water restrictions are criminal in nature, and are treated by the City just like other Municipal Court cases, such as traffic tickets. If found guilty of violating the ordinance, you may be ordered by the Judge to pay a fine, be placed on probation and/or pay court costs. Further, failure to appear in Environmental Court to answer to allegations of illegal watering could result in a warrant being issued for your arrest!
In extreme cases involving "locations of repeated or continued violations," the President/CEO of the San Antonio water system "shall have the authority to discontinue the supply of potable water to the registered meter holder." See Sec. 34-289. I take that to mean that folks who'd rather pay a fine than let their landscaping suffer better not tempt fate (or the water barons)!
God has seen it fit to park a high pressure system over South Texas that prevents rain from settling in above us. Our City Fathers have seen it fit to enact conservation measures whenever God gets that inclination. The rest of us need to endure, lest we be hauled into Court to do some explaining.
And No; I DO NOT "HANDLE" CITATIONS ISSUED BY WATER COPS, AND CAN'T "MAKE A CALL" TO MAKE YOUR SUMMONS GO AWAY.
Let's all just follow the law, and pray for rain!
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