Since October 15, the evening watering window has been back. If your address ends in 5 or 7, Wednesday night from 7 to 10 p.m. is now open to your sprinkler timer, along with the 6 to 10 a.m. window you have had all along. The West Travis County Public Utility Agency moved from Stage 3 to Stage 2 restrictions that day. In the agency's words, Stage 2 offers "more flexibility in watering hours."
Hours are all that came back. Irrigation is still limited to one day a week, on the same address-based schedule as before. That limit is set by how much water one treatment plant can make in a day, so a cool fall alone will not end it. If your water bill comes from WTCPUA, that one plant decides how often your lawn gets water. The agency's lines run right up to the gate. Its October 14 overnight main work on Highway 71 listed the Spanish Oaks Clubhouse/HOA Office among the properties that could be affected.
The schedule in effect since October 15
Here is the Stage 2 schedule, with what each rule replaced. Stage 3 ran from August 25 to October 14 and limited all irrigation to 6 to 10 a.m. on your assigned day. That included hand watering.
| Stage 3, Aug. 25 to Oct. 14 | Stage 2, since Oct. 15 | |
|---|---|---|
| Days per week | One, by address | One, by address |
| Sprinkler hours | 6 to 10 a.m. | 6 to 10 a.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. |
| Hand-held hose, small bucket | Assigned day, 6 to 10 a.m. only | Any time |
| Soaker hose, tree gator bags | Assigned day, 6 to 10 a.m. only | Any time |
| HOA common areas | Saturday | Saturday |
The weekday assignments did not change. Monday is for addresses ending in 1 or 3, Tuesday 2 or 4, Wednesday 5 or 7, Thursday 6 or 8, and Friday 9 or 0. Saturday is for commercial properties and large landscapes such as HOA common areas. Sunday has no scheduled outdoor watering.
The fall itself was busier than that table shows. WTCPUA announced a temporary Stage 4 to start October 7 so crews could repair a suspected leak on a raw-water line. A City of Dripping Springs notice posted October 5 said no leak was found, so Stage 4 was lifted and customers went back to Stage 3. Over about seven weeks, three different stages were either in effect or announced.
A rated 20 million gallons that works out closer to 14
The reason for all this is the Uplands Water Treatment Plant. It is rated at 20 million gallons per day, and WTCPUA calls that its maximum design capacity, not what it can produce every day. Filters need backwashing, parts of the process need flushing, and equipment needs maintenance. On a very high-production day the plant makes about 17 to 18 million gallons. The agency says the plant is about 30 years old and was running around the clock to keep up with summer demand.
Set that against summer use and the shortfall shows up quickly. In its August 27 explainer, WTCPUA described a day when the plant produced about 14 million gallons and customers used about 14.8 million. The storage tanks lost about three-quarters of a million gallons instead of refilling. Weekends do not fully reset the system either. On one Sunday, with no irrigation allowed, the system still used about 12 million gallons, and tanks started the new week below full.
The agency's drought plan explains how restrictions can apply while there is water in the reservoirs. Stage 2 has several separate triggers. One is total daily demand reaching 85 percent of the treatment plant's design capacity for three days in a row, or 95 percent for a single day. Another is combined storage in Lakes Travis and Buchanan falling below 900,000 acre-feet. Either one is enough on its own. The lake can be in good shape while the plant is at its limit, and in summer 2026 the plant was the limit.
What happens to the system overnight
If the plant is the bottleneck, the hours after dark matter more than they seem to. Overnight, household use drops while the plant keeps running, and WTCPUA calls that one of the system's most important recovery periods. Its meter data from late summer showed about 84 percent of water use came in irrigation-sized bursts. About 88 percent of that irrigation-sized use happened outside the permitted Stage 3 day or hours. Over one 12-hour stretch, from 7 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, about 5.27 million gallons went out in irrigation-sized bursts while no irrigation was allowed at all.
That is more than a third of the 14 million gallons the plant made on the day it cited. On August 27, KXAN reported that Rough Hollow Elementary, Lake Travis Middle School and Bee Cave Middle School had low or no water pressure, with pressure restored shortly before 1:30 p.m. CBS Austin reported the same day that the campuses were under a boil-water notice. WTCPUA linked the low tank levels to systemwide use outrunning replenishment. The agency explains that low elevated-tank levels reduce pressure, and that some pressure-loss conditions require a precautionary boil notice under TCEQ rules, even though a loss of pressure does not mean the water is contaminated.
That history explains why the evening window was the part that came back. It adds three hours on the same single day and leaves the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. recovery period alone.
The projects that add capacity
The agency's own explainer describes the problem as one of cooler-weather headroom. During the cooler months, when irrigation drops, it says it does not have the same trouble keeping up with demand or keeping tanks full. The drought plan lets Stage 2 end, with Stage 1 taking over, when the plant-capacity trigger is "predicted to cease for an extended period." WTCPUA has not announced a date for that.
Next summer looks different only once more capacity is built. The agency has dated these projects:
- Uplands plant expansion: rated capacity grows from 20 to 33 million gallons per day. Completion is expected in December 2027, with the added capacity in operation in the first quarter of 2028.
- Hamilton Pool transmission main: scheduled for December 2027.
- Two new 1-million-gallon storage tanks: in design and expected to be complete and online by 2028.
WTCPUA compares storage to a savings account. A bigger tank holds a bigger balance but produces no water, and the balance still falls whenever use outruns production. The 13 million gallons a day of new rated capacity at Uplands is the project that changes summer. Until it opens, the summer of 2027 will run on the same plant that set the pace in 2026.
Stage 2 covers more than the lawn
The Stage 2 section of WTCPUA's Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan sets a target of at least a 20 percent cut in water use, and its rules reach beyond the sprinkler timer.
- New landscaping. New landscapes may be installed only if they can survive on the once-a-week schedule. The plan says no variances will be approved.
- Vehicles and boats. Washing a car, motorbike, boat or trailer with utility water is prohibited. A commercial car wash or service station is allowed at any time.
- Pools and hot tubs. Filling new or existing pools, hot tubs and wading pools is prohibited unless a variance is approved case by case. Topping off to maintenance level is permitted, and the plan sets conditions for draining.
The posted plan is the November 2024 amendment. The PUA board's September 17, 2026 agenda included an item to discuss and act on updates to the plan. Check the current Water Guidelines and Resources page before you schedule sod, a pool fill or a fall planting. First check your water bill to confirm WTCPUA is your provider. Bee Cave's comprehensive plan says WTCPUA supplies most of the city's potable water, but not every address is billed the same way. This post is general information, not legal advice, so confirm how these rules apply to your property with your utility, and with your HOA where common areas are involved.
If you are thinking about new landscaping before listing a Spanish Oaks home this spring, or wondering how a lawn that has been on one watering day a week will look in listing photos, Nicole Cooper can help you plan around the schedule. Request a Live Video Call and we will go over your timeline together.
