The announcement of the city’s nondrought status came through a press release issued by New Braunfels Utilities on Sept. 28. It states water restrictions may be lifted when the 10-day average water level for the J-17 Edwards Aquifer monitoring well has met and remained above 660 feet for 15 days.
“Today, the 10-day average water level reading was 663.7-feet for 15 consecutive days, triggering non-drought guidelines,” the release states.
Guidelines from NBU regarding the new status state customers may water with a sprinkler or irrigation system twice a week based on the last digit of a customer’s address:
- Addresses ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 may water on Monday and Thursday.
- Addresses ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 may water on Tuesday and Friday.
- Watering is not allowed on weekends unless a customer has been granted a water variance.
The areas serviced by the aquifer have not been in a drought stage since October 2018, and the aquifer previously maintained an average water level of 676 feet.
NBU previously announced the aquifer was nearing the critical level May 7 and June 16 after insufficient rainfall, consistent high temperatures and increased water usage caused the water level to drop.
