Leander, TX Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

The city adopted this water conservation and drought contingency plan under Sec. 13.09.001 to protect the potable water supply, sanitation, and fire protection during shortages, running in four escalating phases the city manager or designee triggers based on treatment capacity, pump-station demand, and Highland Lakes storage levels reported by the Lower Colorado River Authority. Sec. 13.09.007 (Applicability) carves out three categories that never fall under any phase: persons on private wells, persons who use water from the city's reuse water system, and persons drawing from any source other than the city's own water utility. A property fully served by reclaimed water through the city's reuse system therefore keeps watering on its own schedule even during Phase 4 critical conditions, when potable customers face the tightest restrictions.

Customers who are not already on the reuse system but want to substitute reclaimed wastewater or groundwater for outdoor irrigation cannot simply switch: Sec. 13.09.015(a)(2) treats that as a variance from the outdoor watering schedule, available on request to staff without the fuller (b)-(c) petition requirements, provided the alternative source does not increase demand on the potable system. A formal variance petition under Sec. 13.09.015(c) must include the petitioner's name and address, the purpose of the water use, the specific plan provision at issue, and a compliance timetable; the city manager or designee reviews it and can condition or end the variance once the triggering drought phase lifts. Sec. 13.09.008 defines "nonessential water use" broadly enough to cover most landscape irrigation, which is why the reuse-system exemption in Sec. 13.09.007 matters: without it, reuse customers would otherwise be swept into the same restrictions as potable customers.