The suspicious yards are not hard to spot. They are the ones with water residue stains on their driveways and sidewalks and unnaturally dark green lawns for a drought.

“You can tell even in dry spots that there was run-off,” said Henry Avila, who patrols every weekday morning for the Bexar Metropolitan Water District looking for property owners who are violating the city's water restrictions. “There are quite a few telltale signs they were watering.”

Then there are the obvious ones, like the steady stream of water running from a subdivision's landscaping down the street off of Potranco Road.

“It's waste,” he said, as he prepared to write a warning.

All across San Antonio, off-duty police officers and employees of BexarMet and the San Antonio Water System are on patrol at all hours looking for those who are either watering on the wrong day, at the wrong time or are allowing water to run off their properties.

Now that the city has been in Stage 2 watering restrictions for close to a month, both utilities are showing less tolerance for those who are caught violating the rules. In Stage 2, property owners are allowed to water with sprinklers, soaker hoses or an irrigation system only one day a week during the hours of 3-8 a.m. and 8-10 p.m. Watering by hand with a hose is allowed at any time.

SAWS has already issued 505 tickets. BexarMet, which is one-quarter the size of SAWS, has given four, but issued 108 warnings and is starting to target certain homeowners and businesses that it knows are breaking the rules or whom neighbors have repeatedly reported.

“Now they are kind of in the spotlight,” said Nathan Riggs, manager of BexarMet's Water Efficiency and Community Relations. “More than anything else, it drives up the frustration of the neighbors who are following the rules.”

More Information To report water waste:

Call SAWS at (210) 704-7297

or BexarMet at (210) 357-5705 See More Collapse

Both utilities require the violation to have been witnessed by a police officer or an employee, who then has to sign an affidavit. SAWS employees often take time-stamped photos as well to document the watering violation.

After a warning, BexarMet customers are fined $100, which is added to their water bill. Subsequent violations will result in a $250 fine and then $1,000.

SAWS no longer issues warnings. A first violation will result in a trip to municipal court with a recommendation to the judge of a $150 fine. A second violation means a recommended $500 fine and $1,000 for a third.

There is no way to get out of the trip to court and just pay the fine for SAWS customers, like they can for parking or speeding tickets, said SAWS spokeswoman Sarah Gatewood. But the utility is talking with the courts to see whether such a process could be established.

BexarMet handles appeals through its customer service department, while SAWS leaves it to the judge to decide.

In both cases it is the word of the property owner against the utility, according to BexarMet and SAWS representatives.

Gatewood said none of the SAWS tickets have been through the court system yet.

As for water coming from the subdivision, Riggs cleared up the matter after the Bella Vista Home Owners Association called to say it was testing the sprinklers. The warning was removed from its record.

“We don't want to be the bad guy,” Riggs said. “But we are far enough into this everyone should know.”

Next time, he said, the association would get a warning.