Here's how many tickets the city issued for drought restriction violations

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the percentage of the combined capacity of Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir that trigger Stage 1 water restrictions. Stage 1 water restrictions are triggered when the combined capacity of the two water supply sources declines to less than 40%. The story is also updated to clarify that at any time and on any day, residents are permitted to water with a hand-held hose that has a shut-off nozzle, a bucket or drip irrigation system.

The city enters into the restrictions when the combined capacity of two of its supply sources – Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir – decline to less than 40%.

As the city sank deeper into drought, its toll last year came by way of sunburned lawns, shrinking lake lines and the new flutter of paper – citation slips for breaking municipal watering rules.

About 1,600 tickets were issued in the first nine months of the program – its penalties as high as $500 per violation per day for watering on the wrong days, during the wrong times or into gutters.

It adds up to about $350,000 in penalties paid to the city for drought restriction violations, with another estimated $66,000 due, according to Municipal Court records obtained by the Caller-Times through an open records request.

In its inaugural month, about 320 citations were issued – and at its height, a little more than 400 in August, the Municipal Court data shows.

About 80% of the total issued were related to watering on the wrong day.

Currently under Stage 1 drought restrictions, it doesn’t appear the city will be emerging from those rules soon.

A continuing water supply decline may mean redeploying additional resources to enforce regulations, said City Manager Peter Zanoni.

“We may have to increase staff members – at least telling first-time offenses that ‘Hey, you’ve got to follow the watering restrictions,’” he said.

What are the restrictions?

Although there are a few select exceptions – which require approval by city officials – Stage 1 restrictions generally mean no watering with an irrigation system or sprinklers except for one day per week – the trash pick-up day – except for the hours between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m.

At any time and on any day, residents are permitted to water with a hand-held hose that has a shut-off nozzle, a drip irrigation system or a bucket.

The city enters into the restrictions when the combined capacity of two of its supply sources – Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir – decline to less than 40%.

As of Wednesday, the combined levels stood at about 40%, according to city officials.

The city enters Stage 2 restrictions when Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir dips to between 21% to 30% combined capacity.

How much did people pay?

About half of the citations between July and March were dismissed, according to the city’s data.

The most frequent reason for dismissal is paying the fine, in accordance with a deferred disposition order, wrote Assistant City Attorney Aimee Alcorn-Reed in an email to the Caller-Times.

“Punishment in Municipal Court is limited to fines; therefore, payment of the fine is the most prominent obligation in a deferred disposition order,” Alcorn-Reed wrote in an email to the Caller-Times. “In a Code Enforcement case, a deferred disposition order may also include specified maintenance obligations for the term of the deferred order. If those obligations are not met, then the maximum fine for the case(s) may be applied and the defendant may receive a conviction.”

The Municipal Court data shows about 40 warrants issued between July 2022 and March 2023 related to drought restriction violations.

How many are issued now?

The number of citations in more recent months is unclear. Municipal Court data shows the last citations in March, with two issued, and no more through mid-June.

The number of citations in more recent months is unclear. Municipal Court data shows the last citations in March, with two issued, and no more through mid-June.

However, city officials have said fines are continuing to be levied, although the timeframe of when the most recent citations were issued is unclear.

The numbers of violations have generally gone down, Zanoni said – believed to be a combination of fewer violations, expanded community outreach and fewer staff members specifically seeking violations.

Last year, city officials made drought restriction violations a priority for about 25 Code Enforcement officers, Zanoni said. Currently, there are about five.

Water department staff were part of the monitoring efforts last year, as well as this year, he added.

Zanoni said the city spent several weeks educating the public on the restrictions and the potential citations leading up to the program’s implementation, adding that at the time the city’s combined water capacity had been about 35%.

“From a business standpoint, I still stand by that recommendation to do that,” he said. “We increased our community awareness, we gave a grace period to everybody. Then we started issuing the fines at historically low water levels in our reservoirs.”

What should it cost?

Still, it was too much, too quickly, some of the council members have said – although several have also said there is a need for some kind of penalty as a deterrent.

When the program first started, potential first-time violators were typically not given warnings before being assessed a fine.

That’s since changed – first-time offenders are usually given a warning, but if there is a second violation, they are given a ticket, city officials said.

The fine amount is a consideration, said City Councilman Dan Suckley.

There needs to be correlation between the fine and the cost of resources going into enforcement, he said, but the dollar amount may be excessive under certain circumstances.

It would be better, he said, to have some kind of a scaled system that would increase the fine according to the number of times there has been a potential violation, Suckley said.

Punitive measures aren’t ideal, said City Councilman Jim Klein – he said he would rather see additional encouragement of water conservation – but may at times be necessary.

“I think for the most part, people in the city are willing to do their part to conserve water,” he said. “A lot of the angst that I hear and see on social media is that not everybody is doing their part.”

More: These are Corpus Christi's water restrictions in the current drought

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: More than 1,000 fines issued for drought restriction violations