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Irrigation Regulations

Regulations within the Town of Pantego's Water Management Plan (adopted via Ordinance 2011-625) apply to all locations — regardless of zoning — and are enforced by a system of warnings and fines for unaddressed or otherwise repeated violations.

The use of sprinklers (whether underground systems or faucet-run) for irrigation is never allowed between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm.
Hand watering with hoses, soaker hoses, or dispensers is allowed at any time except when precipitation is falling.
All manner of outdoor watering is prohibited during any form of precipitation.
Each irrigation system must have a backflow prevention assembly (BPA) to protect our water supply from contamination.
New irrigation systems must include rain and freeze sensors, and retrofitting existing systems is highly encouraged. These sensors can help you save money on your water bill and help you avoid warnings or fines by skipping cycles when precipitation is falling.
Using a poorly maintained irrigation system that wastes water by leaking or spraying directly onto impervious surfaces or other non-irrigated areas is prohibited. Adjust your sprinkler heads to ensure they are not spraying onto hard surfaces like driveways, sidewalks, parking lots, patios, fencing, the street, or other impervious surfaces. Repair broken or cracked heads to prevent excess water use.

Watering during the heat of the day can result in more than half of the water being lost to evaporation. Watering during the early morning is optimal as it minimizes evaporation and is less likely than late-night watering to allow for fungal growth.

Did you know? Our highest water use each summer is usually around 4:00 a.m. Thank you for doing your part to efficiently use our most valuable natural resource by watering during the early morning. Want to do more? Keep scrolling to learn about rainwater harvesting, cycle and soak irrigation, and Texas SmartScape™ practices. Or, download our Gardener's Guide (PDF).

Optimize Your Irrigation System

The average American family uses 320 gallons of water a day — about 30% of which is devoted to outdoor uses. Nationwide, this adds up to nearly 9 billion gallons per day. It is estimated that as much as 50% of water used for irrigation is wasted due to evaporation, wind, or runoff. Simple changes can save water and money:

Program your controller to take advantage of features like rain skips
Don’t water between 10 am and 6 pm when more water will evaporate
Adjust sprinklers to only spray landscaped areas and not on concrete, fencing, or walls
Decrease or stop watering when grass is dormant during cooler months
Adjust for changing rainfall and temperatures
Use the cycle and soak method (more information below)
Evaluate and repair your sprinkler heads regularly

Are you following all of the regulations in the Town of Pantego's Water Management Plan? If not, you could be fined.

Cycle and Soak

Clay-based soils, often found in our region, have a much slower absorption rate. Water applied past the first six minutes of a cycle usually becomes runoff. The cycle and soak method recommends running sprinkler zones for about five minutes each and then allowing about thirty minutes for the water to absorb into the ground before cycling again. Not only can this method help you to get the most value from the water used on your lawn, but it also encourages plants to grow deeper roots, increasing hardiness.

Not sure how many cycles to run? About an hour after watering, push a long screwdriver into the soil. An area has been adequately watered if the probe easily slides to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Scroll down to view plants that do well in Pantego or download our Gardener's Guide (PDF).

Rainwater Harvesting

North American tap water has, on average, 18 to 41 mg of salts per liter. Because salinity levels are higher in this portion of the state and because the region has quite a lot of clay soils, which hold salt better, gardeners should aim to use rainwater whenever possible and choose those plants that are more resistant to salt. Rainwater harvesting and the use of more salt-tolerant plants are two methods for becoming a successful gardener in Pantego. Scroll down to view plants that do well in Pantego or download our Gardener's Guide (PDF).

Rainwater harvesting is an innovative approach to capturing free water that is free of salts and other minerals that can harm root growth. As rainwater percolates into the soil, it forces salts down and away from root zones, allowing roots to grow better and making plants more drought-tolerant. A house with a 1,000-square-foot roof could "harvest" 600 gallons of rainwater from a one-inch rainfall.

By capturing, diverting, and storing rainwater for later use in the home landscape saves you money by reducing your water bills, reduces demand on the municipal water supply, makes efficient use of a valuable resource, and reduces flooding, erosion, and contamination of surface water with sediments, fertilizers and pesticides in rainfall run-off.