Helping Austin Residents Save Water (and Cash)
The City of Austin recently announced that the WaterWise rebate program can not only save Austin residents on their water bill, but they can also earn up to $3,000 in rebates from Austin Water by changing their current Austin landscape to a WaterWise landscape.
Currently, Austin is in Stage 2 Drought response. For residents, that means that automatic irrigation for residential customers is only allowed one day per week either between 7pm to midnight (or midnight to 5 am). Even addresses can use their automatic sprinklers on Thursdays, while odd addresses can only use their sprinklers on Wednesdays.
Sprinklers that operate via hose will also only operate one day per week during restricted hours on the weekends. For the full details of watering restrictions, exemptions, and variances, visit the Austin Water Watering Day page.
Drip irrigation is largely exempted from these restrictions – as is watering by hand and watering trees and gardens with soaker hoses or bubblers. Drip irrigation is primarily used in planting areas and is actually much more efficient than inground sprinklers as it slowly drips out water at the ground level which saturates the soil and has a better chance of reaching the roots of trees and plants. As a result, drip irrigation wastes significantly less water to evaporation and runoff when compared to inground sprinkler systems.
The heat is already here, and given that you can only water your lawn one day a week, it may make it a challenge to keep your grass alive. This is why more residents are switching over to more drought tolerant landscaping configurations like xeriscaping. Xeriscaping takes advantage of plants and grasses native to the Austin area which are already drought tolerant and can handle the hot temperatures and infrequent precipitation that we frequently experience here in Austin during the summer months.
Converting your grass lawn to a more water wise landscape can lower your water bill and make you eligible for a rebate. Be sure to fill out an application on the Austin Water website page before getting started to be eligible for the rebate.
Austin Water incentivizes homeowners to alter their landscaping configuration to be more WaterWise – and that includes changing over to less water hungry landscaping – which includes landscape installations like xeriscapes.
Waterwise Landscape Program Details
How Residents Can Apply for the Austin Water Wise Landscape Rebate
To apply for pre approval before purchasing any materials if you want to be eligible for the rebate. You can only apply once during a 12 month period. You need to own the property or have permission to apply on behalf of the owner. You’ll need to agree to pre and post inspections by the city as well as allow the city to track your water usage.
Area to Convert to a Waterwise Landscape
A brief summary of some of the requirements to convert to a Waterwise landscape are presented below. For the full details, you’ll have to check out the rebate application page.
To apply for the rebate, you must be transitioning at least 500 square feet of turf grass (like Bermudagrass or Zoysiagrass) to a more water friendly area – like a plant bed topped with hardwood mulch (must have organic mulch of at least two to three inches thick). 75% of the area you’re transitioning must have healthy turfgrass as part of your application process.
The plants that you incorporate into this new low water usage area should pull from the Grow Green Plant Guide (although you can petition Austin Water for appropriate substitutions for these plants).
Your plant selection must conform to the Green Plant Guide (although you can ask for exceptions if you have alternative plants that are also water wise).
Installation must occur between March 15th and May 15th or from September 15th to November 15th. It is up to you to make sure that any landscaping installations are compliant with the local regulations where you reside – like your HOA.
There is a rebate checklist on the page which covers everything required for your application including items like: pre landscaping installation photos, stie plan, and planting plan. In some cases a pre inspection may be required.
The city will then process your rebate application and will send you a pre-approval letter if you’re eligible. Only at that point should you being the process by purchasing materials and converting your property to be a WaterWise landscape. You’ll then need to submit photos showing the finished landscaping project which you will submit allong with all receipts and invoices to the City for approval.
