Georgetown, TX Watering Schedule: Hours, Drought Stage, and Fines

Georgetown’s watering schedule in Texas is currently on Stage 1 drought restrictions: you may water two days a week, and the days are set by the last digit of your street address. All irrigation must run between midnight and 9:00 a.m. or between 7:00 p.m. and midnight. Monday is a no-watering day for everyone.¹

Your Watering Days by Address

Find the last digit of your street address and match it to the day pair below. Residential and commercial accounts follow the same schedule.

Addresses ending in 1, 5, or 9: Tuesday and Friday
Addresses ending in 2, 4, 6, or 8: Wednesday and Saturday
Addresses ending in 0, 3, or 7: Thursday and Sunday

Nobody waters on Monday. Apartment complexes and other non-residential accounts are assigned days the same way as single-family homes.¹

Allowed Hours on Your Days

Irrigation is only permitted from midnight to 9:00 a.m. and again from 7:00 p.m. to midnight on your two assigned days. No watering is allowed between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. any day of the week.¹

Program your irrigation controller so every zone finishes well before the 9:00 a.m. cutoff. A controller that reverts to factory defaults after a power outage is one of the most common reasons people water on the wrong day without realizing it, so recheck the programming after any interruption.

What You Can Water Any Day

A handheld hose with a shut-off nozzle, a watering can, or a bucket can be used any day of the week at any time, including during the midday blackout. That covers trees, food gardens, flower beds, and foundation watering.¹

Drip irrigation does not get the same treatment. Drip systems are restricted to your assigned days and the same midnight-to-9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.-to-midnight windows as sprinklers and soaker hoses.¹

Variances for New Sod or Landscaping

If you’re installing new sod, seeding a lawn, or putting in new landscaping, you can apply for an irrigation variance that allows watering outside the normal schedule while plants establish. Variances last 14 days from the date of approval.¹

Apply through Georgetown’s Customer Self-Service portal. Open the Requests tab, choose “+ New Request,” select the irrigation variance option under the Customer service dropdown, and submit the form. Processing takes three to five business days, and approval comes by email. Don’t expand your watering until the approval arrives; irrigating off-schedule without an active variance can still draw a citation.

Current Drought Stage and What Escalation Would Change

Georgetown’s drought contingency plan has multiple stages, and the City Manager can move the city up or down based on treatment plant capacity, reservoir levels, and system demand. The city is currently in Stage 1.²

Stage 1: two days per week on your assigned days within the approved hours. This is the current baseline.
Stage 2: watering drops to one day per week. Georgetown has implemented Stage 2 in portions of its service area in the past.
Stage 3: outdoor irrigation with sprinkler systems is generally prohibited. Handheld watering with a hose and nozzle remains allowed.

Stage changes are announced on the city’s website and through utility account alerts. During long dry stretches, check your account rather than assume the schedule hasn’t shifted.

Fines for Watering on the Wrong Day or at the Wrong Time

Georgetown enforces its water conservation rules under City Code Chapter 13.15. Administrative fines within any 12-month period follow a tiered structure:

First violation: $60 fine or a mandatory water conservation class
Second violation: $75 fine
Third and subsequent violations: $100 per offense

Those are the lighter penalties. Each violation can also be prosecuted as a Class C misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $2,000 per day the violation continues, and the City Attorney can pursue civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day for ongoing non-compliance. If the city disconnects service for repeated violations, reconnection costs $50 plus any other expenses the city incurred.³

1
Georgetown Texas. Georgetown Water Utility
2
City of Georgetown, Texas. Why Are There Water Use Regulations, and What Are Stage Restrictions?
3
City of Georgetown. Georgetown Code of Ordinances Chapter 13.15 Water Conservation