Favorable response to the city’s water conservation rebate programs offered last year has led to creation of another water-saving opportunity for Boerne residents.
Ryan Bass, Boerne’s environmental program manager, April 22 told City Council of a new program that pays homeowners $150 to remove at least 200 square feet of yard currently being watered by an irrigation system.
“This turf grass will be replaced with landscaped beds comprised of native drought-tolerant plant selections or xeriscape,” Bass said.
Any irrigation components within the 200 feet “must be taken offline and capped, so it is permanently removed from that portion of the yard,” he added.
The swap of water-hungry grass for drought-resistant foliage will reduce the amount of yard a homeowner needs to keep watering, saving water in the process.
The city rolled out a water conservation rebate program in May 2024. Three different rebate opportunities included rebates for developing a rainwater harvesting system, for irrigation system consultation, and an offer for irrigation rain/freeze sensor purchase and installation.
“So far, (the rebate program) has been running almost flawlessly,” Bass said, as more than 70 homeowners took part, receiving $2,600 of rebates.
“By far our most popular was the irrigation system inspection. In my opinion, that’s when we get the most return, from a conservation standpoint,” he said.
A total of 52 homeowners applied for the irrigation system check-ups. Of those, very few came away without a fix of some sort.
Then inspections, performed by license irrigation contractors, included a “findings and fixes” section on the final submitted report.
“Out of the 52, I’d say we got 5 or 6 saying the system was operational, with no issues,” Bass told the council.
“We’re seeing things like low pressure ... or (readings) indicating an underground leak, sprinkler heads being hit by mowers or damaged, or (the sprinklers) have been buried and are now raised so they can operate efficiently,” he said. “So, we’re seeing conservation improvements on almost every one of these system consultations.”
City Manager Ben Thatcher said the water conservation plans came about after much discussion between several city departments and department heads. “We have been talking about this for a while, and how to roll this out,” Thatcher said. “Now that we’ve got it going and it’s been successful, we’re going to continue with it as long as it’s appropriate.”
Bass said current ordinance language states only 20 percent of a xeriscape design can be non-vegetative material, meaning a design cannot simply remove grass and replace it with rocks, gravel or mulch.
“You want to incorporate all these different drought-tolerant species into that design,” he said.
Homeowners wanting details on the program can email Bass at [email protected], or call 830-331-9707.\\
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