Laredo Water Restrictions 2026
Webb County · Texas
Published:
Restrictions Active - Stage 2 Drought Contingency Plan - Moderate Water Shortage
3
Days/Week
8:00 PM to 8:00 AM
Allowed Hours
$50 to $2,000 per violation, plus an excess-use surcharge of $10 per 1,000 gallons over 20,000 gallons per month for residential customers
Max Fine
Find Your Watering Day
Enter the last digit of your street address:
View full address schedule table
| Address Ending | Watering Day |
|---|---|
| even | Monday & Wednesday & Friday |
| odd | Tuesday & Thursday & Saturday |
Allowed Watering Hours
City of Laredo Utilities Department Stage 2 of the Drought Contingency Plan (Ordinance 2019-O-139) is currently in effect. Customers whose service address ends in an even digit (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) may irrigate with hose-end sprinklers or automatic sprinkler systems only between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Customers whose service address ends in an odd digit (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) may irrigate only between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. No outdoor irrigation by sprinkler is permitted on Sundays. Laredo draws its entire potable supply from the Rio Grande River, with no surface reservoir backup, so adherence to the schedule is essential to stretch the limited Amistad and Falcon storage that feeds the lower Rio Grande.
Still Allowed
💧 Hand Watering
Allowed with shut-off nozzle. Hours: Hand-held hose watering with a positive shutoff nozzle, soaker hoses, and drip irrigation are allowed any day at any time under Stage 2, but residents are urged to water before 10:00 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m. to minimize evaporation in Laredo's hot semi-arid climate..
🌿 Drip Irrigation
Exempt from day-of-week limits. Must follow allowed hours.
Fines & Enforcement
$50 to $2,000 per violation, plus an excess-use surcharge of $10 per 1,000 gallons over 20,000 gallons per month for residential customers
Stage 2 enforcement is graduated under Ordinance 2019-O-139: customers receive a written warning with 5 days to correct, then a second warning with another 5-day grace period, and only on the third documented violation does the City issue a Class C misdemeanor citation. The excess-use surcharge, however, is applied automatically to monthly billing and is not waived by warnings.
Citations begin November 6, 2024🏠 HOA Rules During Restrictions
Texas Property Code Section 202.007 protects Laredo homeowners from HOA fines for brown or dormant lawns caused by compliance with the City of Laredo's mandatory Stage 2 restrictions. HOAs may not prohibit drought-resistant landscaping, water-conserving turf, or rain barrels, and they cannot require irrigation that would violate the City Utilities Department's address-based schedule.
If your homeowners association sends a violation notice for a dormant or brown lawn during the current restriction period, respond in writing citing the applicable law and include a copy of the City of Laredo Utilities Department's current restriction order. Most HOAs will rescind the notice once they are made aware of the legal protections in place. If the issue persists, contact your county’s code enforcement division for assistance.
Why These Restrictions Exist
Texas is in the middle of a prolonged multi-year drought that the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) projects will produce a 924,400 acre-foot shortfall for the Rio Grande Valley by 2030. The Rio Grande Basin itself is in exceptional drought, and the two binational mainstem reservoirs that supply the entire lower Rio Grande, Amistad and Falcon, are at record-low storage, with Falcon dipping into the single digits of conservation capacity during the worst stretches.
Laredo is uniquely exposed to that basin-wide stress. The City of Laredo Utilities Department draws 100 percent of its potable water from the Rio Grande River through its Jefferson and El Pico water treatment plants, with no surface reservoir of its own and no alternative source on standby. Unlike Brownsville, which has been able to lean on the Southmost Regional Water Authority brackish groundwater desalination plant to soften the blow of Rio Grande shortages, Laredo has no desalination backup and is fully dependent on whatever water reaches its intakes from upstream releases.
The Rio Grande itself is governed by the 1944 US-Mexico Water Treaty, which allocates Rio Grande flows between the two countries and obligates Mexico to deliver a five-year cycle quota from six named tributaries. Mexico has been chronically behind on those deliveries during the current drought cycle, which has tightened Amistad and Falcon storage faster than the natural hydrology alone would suggest and has put binational diplomatic pressure on every Texas border utility that draws from the river.
Laredo is the largest Texas-Mexico border city by population and the seat of Webb County, and it sits in a regional cluster of border utilities that are all tightening at once: Brownsville Public Utilities Board is in Stage 2, Hidalgo County (McAllen and surrounding cities) is operating under a disaster declaration, and Laredo's own Stage 2 designation reflects the same upstream reality. The City Council has begun publicly exploring backup supplies after officials warned the city could face a 10-hour daily supply limit if conditions worsen.
This deficit has accumulated over the current water year and represents a significant departure from historical averages for the Laredo area. Water supply reservoirs and aquifer levels are well below seasonal targets, necessitating mandatory conservation measures.
How to Keep Your Lawn Alive During Laredo Water Restrictions
11 tips tailored for Laredo homeowners during Stage 2 Drought Contingency Plan - Moderate Water Shortage restrictions.
Laredo sits in USDA Zone 9a-9b with hot semi-arid summers; favor warm-season turf such as Bermuda, Zoysia, or buffalograss, all of which tolerate Stage 2's three-day-per-week schedule far better than St. Augustine.
Raise mower height to 2.5-3 inches on Bermuda and 3-3.5 inches on Zoysia; taller blades shade the soil and reduce evaporative loss in Laredo's 100-plus degree summer days.
Water deeply during your assigned 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. window rather than briefly each session; one inch over the night cycle drives roots down and makes turf more resilient to the next Rio Grande shortfall.
Because Laredo's entire supply is the Rio Grande with no reservoir backup, every gallon counts; install a WaterSense-labeled smart controller with a rain or soil-moisture sensor to skip cycles automatically after the rare South Texas storm.
Check your irrigation system monthly for broken heads, misaligned spray, and leaks; a single broken head in Laredo's caliche soil can waste hundreds of gallons per cycle and quickly push you into the $10 per 1,000 gallon excess-use surcharge.
Replace thirsty ornamental beds with native South Texas xeric plants such as Texas sage, esperanza, cenizo, Mexican feathergrass, and lantana, which thrive on Webb County rainfall alone once established.
Mulch all beds with 3 inches of hardwood or pecan-shell mulch to cut soil evaporation by up to 70 percent; critical in Laredo's dry, windy spring.
Use a hose-end shutoff nozzle when hand watering trees and shrubs; under Stage 2 hand watering is unrestricted by day, but an open hose is a Stage 2 violation and a fast way to trigger the excess-use surcharge.
Top-dress lawns with 1/4 inch of compost in spring to improve the moisture-holding capacity of Laredo's caliche-clay soils, which otherwise shed water quickly.
Capture A/C condensate and shower warm-up water in buckets for ornamentals; in Laredo's humidity-and-heat summer, a single home A/C can produce several gallons a day of usable irrigation water.
Sign up for the Laredo Utilities Department's free residential irrigation evaluation; on a sole-source Rio Grande system, fixing one inefficient zone saves more water than any single behavior change.
Laredo Water Restriction FAQs
What days can I water my lawn in Laredo?
What hours can I run my sprinklers in Laredo?
What are the fines for water violations in Laredo?
Can I install new sod or seed in Laredo during restrictions?
When will water restrictions end in Laredo?
Why is Laredo more vulnerable to Rio Grande drought than other Texas cities?
How is Laredo's situation different from Brownsville's?
How does the 1944 US-Mexico Water Treaty affect Laredo's water supply?
How do I know which Stage 2 watering days apply to my Laredo address?
How does Laredo's Stage 2 fit into the broader Texas border drought cluster?
Get alerts for Laredo, Texas
We will email you when Laredo restrictions change – escalations, new stages, or lifted restrictions.
No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime.
Other Texas Cities with Water Restrictions
Community Reports & Questions
Share an update, ask a question, or report a change in your local restrictions.
No community reports yet
Be the first to share a local update, ask a question, or report a change in your area's restrictions.