ERWSD Launches Water Watch Program to Catch Drought Wasters

What happens when your neighbor waters his lawn at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, and you’re the one who has to pay for the drought?

That’s the practical question facing residents of the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District (ERWSD). The district just approved a new enforcement strategy designed to catch water wasters in the act, and it starts with a simple $500 fine. But the real shift isn’t the money — it’s the system. They are launching "Water Watch," a program that turns every citizen into a potential inspector.

The logic is straightforward. The district’s current outdoor watering policy restricts use to two days per week, strictly between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. If you water outside those hours or on the wrong days, you’re in violation. And if you keep doing it, the penalties stack up. Four violations in a single year may result in water flow restrictions on your property.

But here’s the catch: the district doesn’t expect many people to hit that fourth violation. In fact, they expect most people to fix their behavior after the first or second warning.

“They had hundreds of reports on violating their watering schedule and very few of them actually went to a fine,” said Public Relations Manager Lauren Snyder. “Most of them, they called or emailed the person letting them know there was a violation, and that changed the behavior.”

Snyder noted that when researching other districts with similar fines, they found a consistent pattern. People hate the hassle of the fine more than they love watering their grass at noon. The threat of the penalty is the tool; the education is the follow-up.

To make this work, ERWSD is rolling out an online form for "Water Watch." Residents can submit the date, time, and location of a suspected violation. The district then cross-references that report with its own data. It’s not just a complaint box; it’s a verification system.

“It’s very clear when someone starts their irrigation, there’s a very clear spike in their water use, so we’ll have two points of evidence,” Snyder said.

The district is already getting calls daily. During this extreme drought season, the flow of complaints has been inversely proportional to the flow of actual water. People are watching. They’re noticing. And now, they have a direct line to report it.

The stakes get higher if you keep at it. If a user reaches four violations, the district can install a flow-restricting device at the homeowner’s expense. This isn’t a shutoff valve — your water still flows, but the volume is capped remotely. District General Manager Siri Roman explained that the device replaces the standard water meter, allowing the district to reduce the actual amount of water passing through while maintaining indoor use for public health.

“We use the word ‘may’ because it’s kind of a newer technology,” Roman said. “We hope to build the program.”

Before rolling this out to the general public, the district is testing the technology on its own employee housing units. It’s a low-risk way to see if the remote restriction works as advertised before asking taxpayers to foot the bill for the hardware.

But there’s a gap in the plan that residents should notice. The district admits it hasn’t done a lot of education on what actually constitutes "water waste." Just because you’re watering on the right day doesn’t mean you’re not wasting water.

“We have not done a lot of education on what water waste is to our customers,” Snyder said. “So we’re going to spend a few weeks if not a month, educating our customers on what that looks like, ornamental water features, letting water pool, overwatering and letting it go down the gutter, those types of things.”

It’s a clear signal that the district is moving from a passive monitoring system to an active enforcement one. They aren’t just waiting for the water to run out. They’re asking you to help them watch it.

“The question is whether this voluntary reporting sticks,” Snyder said. “Or if we end up with a lot of fines.”

The verdict is still out. But for now, the onus is on you. Watch the sprinklers. Report the violations. And hope your neighbor waters at night.