Texas Drought Watering Rules & Your Leaking Pool
Quick answer
During Texas droughts, San Antonio's SAWS and the City of Abilene impose drought-stage watering restrictions that make every leaked gallon costly. Pools naturally lose water to evaporation — often 1/4 inch a day or more in summer — so a 24-hour bucket test is the key to telling normal evaporation from a true, repairable leak.
How Texas drought stages affect pool owners
When reservoirs and aquifers drop, Texas utilities move into drought stages with stricter watering rules. In San Antonio, the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) ties restrictions to Edwards Aquifer levels; in Abilene, the City limits watering as Lake Fort Phantom Hill, Hubbard Creek, and O.H. Ivie decline.
Pools are generally allowed to be topped off, but at drought rates a leak you don't know about can add up fast — both in dollars and in wasted drinking water.
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Evaporation vs. a true leak
Not every drop is a leak. In Texas heat, normal evaporation runs about 1/8 to 1/4 inch per day, and a hot, windy summer day in San Antonio or Abilene can push it higher. The challenge during drought is that high evaporation can hide a real leak.
Run the bucket test
The bucket test separates evaporation from leakage at no cost:
- Fill a bucket with pool water and set it on a step so the inside and outside water lines match.
- Mark both levels and wait 24 hours with the pump running normally.
- Evaporation hits the pool and bucket equally; if the pool drops noticeably more, the difference is your leak.
Why fixing a leak helps during drought
Stopping a leak isn't just about your bill — it keeps you within SAWS and City of Abilene watering rules and conserves scarce Texas water. A constantly running auto-fill during a drought stage is one of the clearest reasons to schedule detection.
When to call a specialist
If the bucket test shows the pool losing well beyond evaporation, professional detection pinpoints whether it's the shell, a fitting, or buried plumbing — so any repair across San Antonio, Abilene, and our other Texas markets is targeted instead of exploratory.