Drought worsens as Stage 2 restrictions go into effect locally

As rainfall basically has ceased in the county during the past several months, with numbers to date falling below those before the historic 2011 and 1954 droughts, the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District has moved into Stage 2 drought, introducing new water use restrictions.

During the groundwater district’s meeting Monday, the directors heard an update on hydrologic conditions across the state and found there was a lack of tropical storms caused by a La Niña weather pattern, leading to strengthening drought conditions. Further, the district’s 43 monitor wells are seeing drooping water levels with five reaching record lows for the month.

CCGCD Director Micah Voulgaris said Stage 2 means there is a 20 percent reduction in production use for permitted uses and it introduces a new watering schedule for sprinklers and automated lawn-watering systems. Additionally, the watering schedule for lawns is introduced based on home addresses.

The groundwater conservation district had remained in Stage 1 since July of last year, when the Hill Country and state experienced hefty precipitation totals. But conditions are drying back up in the typical Hill Country wet-dry cyclical nature as Boerne and Kendall County haven’t seen more than an inch of rain in a month since November.

Data from the National Weather Service shows the county in an unusually dry pattern. When winter seasons historically bring less precipitation, February was the city of Boerne’s wettest month, claiming just 0.78 inches of rain. The numbers only get more concerning from there. In January, 0.57 inches fell, March saw 0.39 inches and 0.36 inches watered lawns in December.

Halfway into this month, a mere .04 inches have permeated the Hill Country soil in Boerne.

While this does tend to be the time when soil begins to dry up and creeks cease to flow from dry winter weather and the heat of spring, records from the National Weather Service show this slice of the Hill Country tends to forgo the old April showers adage.

Hopes of rain can remain strong as May has been the wettest month of the year in Kendall County for at least the past two years. According to data from the NWS’s Boerne Stage Field, 12.39 inches fell last May and 9.76 inches dropped in May 2020.

Now that Stage 2 is in full effect across the groundwater district’s service area, homes with automated sprinklers, soaker hoses or drip irrigation are limited to watering once a week, and pools may only be filled with groundwater on the same designated watering day. All sprinkler system operations are limited to hours before 10 a.m. and after 8 p.m. to minimize evaporation.

Sprinkler schedule days are dictated by the last number of an address in the county. Those ending in 0 or 1 may operate Monday, those ending in 2 or 3 may operate Tuesday, those ending in 4 or 5 may operate Wednesday, those ending in 6 or 7 may operate Thursday and those ending in 8 or 9 may operate on Friday.

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