Houston mandatory water restrictions

Jun 24, 2023

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HOUSTON — The City of Houston starts mandatory water restrictions on Sunday,, August 27, as it enters "Stage Two" of its Drought Contingency Plan.

In Stage Two of the drought plan, outdoor water use must be limited to the hours of 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. with the following schedule:

Residents who violate the water conservation order could be punished. For the first violation, you'll receive a written warning. All other violations are subject to a fine of up to $2,000.

This comes after Mayor Sylvester Turner hinted during Wednesday’s city council meeting that water restrictions could be coming soon.

According to the city's Public Works department, some residents have been experiencing lower water pressure due to the intense heat combined with the lack of rain. This has resulted in greater water use and dry soil, which is leading to an increase in water leaks.

That alone can impact water pressure.

“We’ve got to manage this crisis and to get us through this crisis, I’m going to ask Houstonians to work with us and that is to water your grass late at night, not during the day, not at 6, 7 o’clock in the afternoon, minimize your use much as possible, but we’ll put forth a plan to address that soon,” Turner said.

The most likely cause of low water pressure is rusted, galvanized plumbing.

A broken water pipe could also lead to low water pressure. And we're not just talking about a cracked pipe because that's not enough to impact pressure, but a pipe that's basically broken in half.

If you have just one faucet, showerhead or toilet with low pressure, that could be the cause of mineral deposits and dirt build-up. If that's the case, you can clean out the appliance or if needed, replace it.

But the biggest issue with low water pressure is typically when your water department lowers pressure because of a water main break or pump issues.

If you reside in Houston, you can call 311 to report water pressure issues and hopefully get a timeline on when pressure will be restored.

#HouPublicWorks is seeing an increase in reports of lower water pressure across the city. The intense heat combined with a significant drop in annual rainfall have dried up the soil. People are using more water, resulting in more water leaks which can impact water pressures (1/3) pic.twitter.com/4ApSGXSzNX

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