Stricter drought measures likely by summer

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SAN ANTONIO — The Edwards Aquifer Authority is predicting that by summer, the San Antonio region could fall under the toughest level of drought restrictions it's ever seen.

Unless the rainfall projections change significantly, the authority will have to go to Stage IV limits for users in the San Antonio pool of the aquifer, which includes Bexar, Medina, Hays, Comal and northern Atascosa counties, officials said. The biggest pumper in that pool is the San Antonio Water System.

Terri Herbold, EAA spokeswoman, said the aquifer is currently in Stage II, which means the EAA requires permit holders to reduce pumping by 30 percent. But within 10 days, the aquifer is likely to drop farther, triggering Stage III, or a 35 percent cut in pumping. As of Tuesday, the J-17 index well in Bexar County was at 640.6 feet above sea level, barely above the 640 feet threshold for Stage III. Stage IV starts when the aquifer 10-day average is 630 feet.

The EAA projects the region could go into Stage IV, or a 40 percent pumping reduction, for the first time ever, in July. Some cities are likely to have to limit lawn watering with sprinklers to once every two weeks, or ban it altogether, Herbold said.

“We don't tell people how to cut back. We just tell them they need to cut back,” she said.

SAWS spokesman Greg Flores said the EAA's forecast underscores a possibility that SAWS could, for the first time, implement Stage 3 of its drought plan this summer, limiting sprinkler watering to once every two weeks. The utility now is in Stage 2, or once a week sprinkler watering.

Read more about the outlook for the drought this year at ExpressNews.com and in Wednesday's edition of the Express-News.

shuddleston@express-news.net