It may only be March, but water conservation will soon be mandatory for Laredo residents.
The water utilities department is requesting city council to make this effective immediately because water levels in our reservoirs are low; this is three months early compared to the last few years.
Stage three of the water conservation ordinance only allows residents to water their lawn between 8 p.m and 8 a.m on certain days of the week.
If your address ends in an odd number, you can only water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
If your address ends in an even number, you can water your lawn Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Hand watering and using a drip irrigation system can be used at any hour.
This address schedule also applies to washing the car and refilling of swimming pools.
Water conservation planner, Karla Robles said advancing the conservation ordinance to stage three is just a precautionary measure because our reservoirs are slightly low.
"They are currently at 32-percent. So we don't want to wait until those deplete, the storage capacity depletes. We want to be pro-active, we want to make sure and do something right now and protect the water from the Rio Grande, now that we have it available. It's not that the water plant has any problems, it doesn't. We currently right now, our water plant is in healthy condition, it is, but we're taking a protective measure."
This water conservation ordinance will last until October 1.
Those who wish not to comply will have to pay a heavy penalty.
"Any violation of the water conservation and drought contingency ordinance has a penalty of $500 per violation, per day. Aside from that, if we issue you a citation, the first time it's going to incur a $5 water waste fee added on to your water bill."
The water waste fee will double for every citation received.
This item is on the agenda for city council to vote on on Monday.
The water utilities department will also hold a fix-a-leak campaign next week where they are asking residents to take the extra time to check their faucets and showers for any leaks and repair them to prevent any wasted water.