August 10, 2026
SAWS Stage 2 Commercial Watering Rules: How Often Can a San Antonio Property Water?
Under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules, in effect since August 4, 2026, a San Antonio commercial property may run its in-ground irrigation system once a week only, on the day assigned to its street address, and only between 5 and 10 a.m. or between 9 p.m. and midnight. Drip irrigation and tree bubblers are allowed Mondays and Fridays.
The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules are why your turf looks thinner in August than it did in April, and they are the first thing to explain when an owner asks what changed. San Antonio Water System eased the service area from Stage 3 to Stage 2 on August 4, 2026, moving in-ground systems from every other week to once a week.
That is still one day. The question is how to keep an entry drive, a monument bed and acres of turf presentable on that window without collecting a violation.
What do the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules allow, by watering method?
The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules set a different allowance for each delivery method, which is why one site can legally water on three schedules at once. Sprinklers and soaker hoses share the address day. Drip gets two days. A hand-held hose is unrestricted.
| Watering method | Days allowed | Hours allowed | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-ground irrigation and sprinklers | Once a week, on the street address day | 5 to 10 a.m. or 9 p.m. to midnight | Turf, frontage, tenant lawns |
| Soaker hose | Once a week, same address day | Same two windows | Foundation beds, hedge rows |
| Drip irrigation and tree bubblers | Monday and Friday only | Same two windows | Beds, new trees, screening |
| Hand-held hose | Any day | Any time | Spot watering, containers |
Source: San Antonio Water System, Stage 2 drought restrictions, verified August 2026. Confirm the day for each address, because SAWS ties it to the street address, not the tenant or the meter.
Why can one business park have two watering days under SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules?
This is the rule most commercial properties get wrong. Under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules, areas without their own street address – medians, entryways, common areas, landscape islands and detention basins – water on Wednesday, whatever day the buildings are assigned.
A business park whose buildings water Tuesday still waters its entry median Wednesday: one property, two legal days, two controller programs. That split is the most frequent way the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules get broken by accident.
What else do the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules restrict?
Irrigation days are only part of it. The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules also govern fountains, pressure washing, athletic turf, car washes and hotel housekeeping.
| Stage 2 restriction | What is required | Where it bites |
|---|---|---|
| Outdoor commercial fountains | A SAWS variance is required. Indoor and residential fountains may run in all stages. | Plaza features, monument entries |
| Washing driveways, lots, streets, sidewalks | Prohibited. A health and safety exception can be requested from SAWS. | Pressure-washing vendors, garage decks |
| Golf courses, athletic fields, parks | No irrigation between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. | Campuses with practice turf |
| Commercial car wash facilities | May operate any day | Retail pad sites, fleet wash bays |
| Hotels and lodging | Linen and towel change on request only | Hospitality and mixed-use assets |
Tell janitorial vendors before they arrive with a hose. The washing ban in the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules applies to the surface, not to who is washing it, so a subcontractor’s habit becomes the owner’s violation.
How do you keep an office park presentable under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules?
You change how water is delivered, not how much you wish you could apply. The goal is deep, infrequent soaking that reaches the root zone.
Cycle-and-soak is the highest-value change under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules. Split one 20-minute run on a slope into three 6 to 7 minute cycles 30 to 60 minutes apart, so water infiltrates rather than sheeting into the parking lot.
Match run time to head type. Rotors need roughly three times the run time of spray heads for the same depth, and San Antonio’s shallow soils over limestone accept water slowly. Uneven spacing shows as dry arcs, which is a sprinkler and irrigation repair problem, not a scheduling one.
Convert what you can to drip so beds pick up the Monday and Friday allowance instead of one day. On older systems that is a retrofit, and it pairs with a review of irrigation system design and installation in San Antonio.
Then triage: water the entry drive, monument sign and tenant-facing frontage first, and accept dormancy in back-of-house turf. Dormant Bermuda is not dead Bermuda. That is the logic behind office building and business park landscaping in San Antonio.
How do you reprogram a commercial controller for the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules?
Build separate programs, not one schedule with mixed days. A controller running every zone on Program A cannot serve a site where buildings water on their address day, common areas water Wednesday and drip runs Monday and Friday.
Map the zones first: zone number, what it waters, head type, and whether that area has its own street address. That list turns the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules into three clean programs instead of a guess.
| Program | Zones it holds | Legal days | Programming note |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Spray and rotor zones serving addressed buildings | The street address day only | Cycle-and-soak splits, started early in the window |
| B | Median, entry, island and detention zones | Wednesday | Keep separate even on a shared controller |
| C | Drip lines and tree bubblers anywhere on site | Monday and Friday | Longer single runs; soak gaps matter less |
Set the start time so the last cycle finishes inside the window. The allowance is 5 to 10 a.m., so a 5 a.m. start leaves room for soak gaps and an 8:30 a.m. start does not. Water applied at 10:05 a.m. breaks the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules even though the program began legally.
On a compacted slope one long run wastes most of the water: soil accepts it at a fixed rate, and once the surface seals the rest runs to the curb. Spray heads need the most cycles, rotors tolerate longer single runs, drip rarely runs off.
What does a zone-by-zone irrigation audit check, and in what order?
An audit runs in one direction: source, controller, valve, zone, head. Working backward from a dry spot wastes the visit, because a symptom at the head usually starts upstream.
The technician begins at the point of connection and the backflow assembly, confirms the master valve responds, then runs each zone and walks it. Inside a zone the order is pressure, coverage, condition: misting means pressure is too high, a head that barely lifts means the circuit carries too many heads. Broken heads, tilted risers, buried nozzles and blocked spray are logged last.
Ask for it in writing. A usable report lists each zone by number, what it waters, the head type, faults found, what was fixed on the spot, what needs a return trip with parts, and the run time and program per zone, which is what holds a site to the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules all season.
What do the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules leave to the property manager?
Two items sit with the owner, not the landscape vendor, and neither is waived by the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules: the annual backflow prevention assembly test, and who may legally touch the system.
Backflow prevention assemblies on commercial irrigation must be tested every year and filed with SAWS. An untested assembly is a cross-connection exposure attached to the property. See annual testing of backflow prevention assemblies.
In Texas, work on an irrigation system must be performed or supervised by a licensed irrigator, per TCEQ irrigator licensing. Design Scapes holds TCEQ irrigator license LI0028680. Ask any vendor for a license number first.
What we see in the field: across the office and business park sites Design Scapes has maintained since 2012, the most common Stage 2 failure is a controller reprogrammed in Stage 3 and never revisited, or one program running common-area zones on the building day.
What rebates offset the cost of SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules?
Most commercial sites never claim the money available. SAWS runs an Annual Irrigation Checkup, which puts a conservation consultant on site to audit zones and scheduling, plus a Commercial Custom Rebate for water-saving projects with no standard rebate.
For a property already spending on repairs to meet Stage 2, the checkup is the cheapest audit available. Pull both before budgeting next year’s irrigation line across your commercial landscaping and grounds maintenance portfolio.
What does a Stage 2 irrigation season look like month by month?
The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules are a calendar, not a single event. Properties that hold up in August did the work in February.
A Stage 2 irrigation year on a San Antonio commercial site
Walk every zone with the system running. Fix broken heads, tilted risers, clogged nozzles and bad spacing.
Schedule the annual backflow test. Reprogram for the current stage, with common-area zones on their own Wednesday program.
Move beds and tree rings to drip for the Monday and Friday allowance. Mulch to 4 inches.
Cycle-and-soak every slope. Watch for chinch bugs on hot turf edges. Protect frontage; let low-visibility turf go dormant.
Assess what came back, replace losses with drought-durable species, and file the season’s compliance records.
General operating calendar for San Antonio commercial properties working under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules. Adjust to the stage in effect and your soil.
The same calendar applies to retail and shopping center grounds, where pad-site islands carry the Wednesday problem.
What happens if a property is reported under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules?
A report usually arrives as a notice from San Antonio Water System naming the address and the time water was seen running. Enforcement steps are set by SAWS, so confirm the current process and any response deadline with SAWS directly.
Do not open by arguing. Establish whether the system ran at all, because three causes look identical from the street: a program still set to a previous stage, a valve stuck open after the program ended, and a lateral break moving water with the controller off.
Pull the controller history first, since most commercial controllers store recent run times by program. Photograph the wet area, note the zone number, and keep a dated record of the cause and the correction, because under the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules the obligation sits with the property, not the vendor.
First response to a Stage 2 watering complaint
Do this first
- Photograph the run log for the date named
- Identify the zone as building or common area
- Shut that program off until the cause is confirmed
- Have a licensed irrigator test the valve
Do not
- Assume the report is wrong because the schedule reads right
- Let an unlicensed laborer open the valve box
- Reprogram everything and erase what ran
Operating guidance, not legal advice. Confirm enforcement steps with San Antonio Water System.
How should a contract flex when the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules change stage?
Write the scope to the stage in effect, not to a fixed number of waterings. San Antonio Water System moved the service area from Stage 3 to Stage 2 on August 4, 2026, and a contract naming watering days has to be reopened every time the dial moves.
Stage 3 returns in-ground systems to every other week, turning the job from scheduling into triage: drip conversion, hand watering of new plantings, dormancy everywhere but the frontage. Stage 1 is less restrictive, but confirm its terms on the SAWS drought page rather than assuming them.
The durable structure is a scope that names tasks plus a rider that names the stage. Two clauses carry it: one requiring every controller to be reprogrammed within a stated number of days of a stage change, and one stating who pays for hand watering and drip conversion.
Key takeaways
- San Antonio Water System has enforced Stage 2 drought restrictions since August 4, 2026.
- In Stage 2, an in-ground irrigation system may run once a week, on the street address day, from 5 to 10 a.m. or 9 p.m. to midnight.
- Drip irrigation and tree bubblers may run Monday and Friday; a hand-held hose may be used any day, any time.
- Medians, entryways, common areas and detention basins without a street address water on Wednesday.
- The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules do not suspend the annual backflow test or the TCEQ-licensed irrigator requirement.
SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules: frequently asked questions
How often can a commercial property water under SAWS Stage 2?
The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules allow an in-ground irrigation system, sprinkler or soaker hose to run once a week only, on the day assigned to the property’s street address, and only between 5 and 10 a.m. or 9 p.m. and midnight. Drip and tree bubblers get Mondays and Fridays.
What day do common areas and medians water in Stage 2?
Areas without their own street address, including medians, entryways, common areas, landscape islands and detention basins, water on Wednesday under Stage 2 in San Antonio. That is independent of the day assigned to the buildings, so a business park can legally hold two watering days.
Can an office building run its outdoor fountain in Stage 2?
Not without a variance. Outdoor commercial fountains require a variance from San Antonio Water System while Stage 2 restrictions are in effect. Indoor commercial fountains and residential fountains may operate in all drought stages, so request the variance rather than waiting for a complaint.
Can we pressure wash a parking lot or sidewalk during Stage 2?
Washing driveways, parking lots, streets and sidewalks is prohibited under Stage 2. A health and safety exception can be requested from San Antonio Water System for a spill or a genuine safety condition, not routine cleaning. Notify subcontractors, because the violation attaches to the owner.
Do the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules change the backflow test?
No. The SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules restrict when and how a property may irrigate, but they do not suspend the annual test of backflow prevention assemblies on commercial irrigation. That test is required every year, filed with SAWS, and remains the owner’s obligation in any drought stage.
Who may repair a commercial irrigation system in Texas?
Work on an irrigation system in Texas must be performed or supervised by an irrigator licensed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, so ask for the license number before work begins. Design Scapes Inc. holds TCEQ irrigator license LI0028680 and a 5.0 rating across 45 Google reviews.
Drought stages change, and the SAWS Stage 2 commercial watering rules above reflect what was verified in August 2026. Confirm the current stage on the SAWS drought restrictions page, see our guide to when you can water your lawn in San Antonio, or hand the whole job to our office park grounds maintenance program.
Want a straight answer for your property?
Design Scapes has maintained San Antonio commercial grounds since 2012. We will walk your office building or business park, measure the turf and bed areas, and send an itemized scope and price with no obligation.