Kyle utilities coordinator Jason Biemer demonstrates how to check a yard for moisture to determine whether it violates watering restrictions. (Photo by Wes Ferguson)
by KIM HILSENBECK
It’s 8:52 a.m. and Jason Biemer spots a sprinkler system running in the Indigo Cove cul-de-sac in Hometown Kyle, a subdivision west of downtown. He stops his white Public Works truck with its flashing blue light. It’s an off watering day for Kyle’s residential water customers; that means it’s time to knock on a door.
Biemer, Kyle’s utility coordinator, also acts as the enforcement officer when it comes to watering violations. The homeowner in question answered the door, listened to Biemer’s spiel, accepted the flier – he was not cited – and promised to turn the sprinkler off. Before Biemer pulled away, it was.
Later in the week, Biemer will drive by to make sure the homeowner is in compliance. “We’ve driven around in the evening and found people watering on days when they’re not allowed to. They must know they’re doing something wrong when they do it under cover of darkness.” Biemer smiles slightly. “They’re not expecting us to knock on their door at 10 p.m.”
In three hours through six neighborhoods, Biemer found two homes in active violation – in other words, a sprinkler or soaker hose was running when he drove by. He also found four homes with suspiciously wet grass, sidewalks and driveways. At those residences, he left a door hanger explaining the visit along with the current watering schedule.
Following each stop, Biemer radios in the address and outcome. That information becomes part of the department’s database of water violations, including repeats.
During his rounds, Biemer often gets out and touches wet grass to determine if a lawn was recently watered, or if it’s just dew or humidity. He also looks for wet sidewalks, driveways and runoff in gutters. Another telltale sign is very green grass – though that alone is not cause for stopping, he said. One or a combination of factors may lead to giving the home or business owner the outreach materials.
Plum Creek has more repeat violators
The active violations were in Hometown Kyle and Plum Creek; the latter, Biemer noted, has a higher number of repeat offenders than most other Kyle subdivisions. Kensington Trails is another neighborhood where Biemer sees repeat offenders.
He also recalled run-ins with some of the local Home Owner’s Associations in those same neighborhoods, including one that he said encouraged its members to water in excess of the restrictions so the grass would be green throughout the community. Several also had sprinklers for the public landscaping running when they shouldn’t be.
Kristi Morrison of the Plum Creek HOA said Kyle’s water utility department came to her a few times to let her know the water irrigation system for the neighborhood was running when it shouldn’t. She claimed the system was interrupted from a power outage. Morrison said the HOA sprinklers are now all set on a timer that is in compliance with the water ordinance.
She also said her association’s newsletter ran articles about the water restrictions, how to mulch and proper tree watering.
Biemer acknowledged things are getting better with most of the HOAs.
Biemer and his staff prefer the ‘Educate, Warn, Enforce’ style of code enforcement when it comes to water restrictions. “I’d rather help people see why it’s better to comply with the restrictions than have them mad about getting cited but not grasp the reason behind it.”
He noted a few success stories from this method, including one particular Plum Creek house. “They had this very green lawn and we received numerous complaints,” he said. “At one point, we gave them two warnings in the same week.” Biemer said that homeowner’s excuse was ‘the city had never cited anyone before’ for watering.
Municipal and private water companies agree that things are changing in Central Texas. Excessive and egregious use of water, especially during critical stage drought, is drawing the attention of code enforcement officials. Yet most are still issuing warnings and conducting public education, not just writing tickets or installing flow restrictors.
Biemer does not have the legal authority to issue a citation to repeat offenders, though Kyle’s City Manager Lanny Lambert would like to change that.
Issuing citations
Lambert made a request to City Council to give all code enforcement officers the power to write a ticket for any ordinance violation on the spot without waiting for the police. As the drought continues, Lambert believes Kyle will need to step up water restriction enforcement efforts.
“Expanding the authority to write tickets will help with compliance,” he said.
In addition to taxing a small town’s utility and code enforcement staff, Biemer said water violation citations would also clog up the already overburdened court system. “In an ideal world, water users would police themselves,” Biemer said.
The Plum Creek soaker hose-using homeowner told Biemer, “I didn’t know we were on conservation.”
Signs at neighborhood entrances announce the water restrictions. The information is also on the city of Kyle’s website. Biemer added that local news coverage of the wild fires has heightened water conservation efforts.
Biemer relates tales of homeowners who offer different variations of the same excuses when they are caught wet-handed, so to speak. The most common are:
• “I didn’t know my watering day.”
• “I wasn’t aware of the restrictions.”
• “I didn’t get to water on my day.”
“Ignorance of the law is not absolution from it,” Biemer said. However, he was quick to point out he and other utility staff are only doing their jobs. He prefers educating homeowners about water restrictions to issuing citations. “I usually tell someone who wants to argue with me that they can choose to water their lawn or have safe, abundant drinking water in the future.”
According to Biemer, it’s not usually a tough choice at that point.
