Residents of Rogers Ranch Think They Are Being Targeted By SAWS
Some residents of Rogers Ranch, a north central San Antonio community, think the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) is targeting them as violating water restrictions that have been in place for several months now.
Several citizens in Rogers Ranch have received citations for violating the water restrictions. Some residents claim citations were issued in error. Sprinkler systems can only be used during specific hours and on the day for which an address is permitted to operate. The complainants point to citations issued for violations of days which they were allowed to water.
There have been other cases where SAWS cited residents with watering during times when watering with sprinkler systems were not authorized. A community newspaper, the San Antonio Local Lowdown, in an article by Ron Aaron Eisenberg, describes some of the efforts a Rogers Ranch resident went to to challenge the citation and fine:
To get out of hot water, the Goeis' opted for the legal route.
"We both took off work and went to the courthouse on two occassions to challenge the citation", she said, adding they brought with them an independent expert's analysis of their sprinkler system confirming it was working properly.
They paid $100 for the report, lost money by taking off from work, but avoided the fine. Others in Rogers Ranch have just paid the fine, even though they believed SAWS errored in issuing their citations.
I think most in the area appreciate the need for water conservation due to our drought. Hopefully residents in this community is not being unfairly cited. By the same token we should recognize enforcement activities of all sorts are not appreciated whoever is on the receiving end-parking meter violation, traffic ticket, building code violation, OSHA complaint.
Until otherwise notified, some residents of Rogers Ranch think they are being targeted by SAWS.
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