ASIC is not a large organization. It's vital to the Green Industry, however. Its professional members serve as consultants and specifiers to many of the largest and most visible golf, landscape and grounds irrigation projects in the country. Even they seemed impressed by San Antonio's progress in educating its residents in wise water use. In 1981, for example, usage was measured at 225 gallons daily per capita. By 2004 it had been reduced to 121 gallons per capita, Ruby Perez with San Antonio Water System (SAWS), told ASIC members. Residents of San Antonio and adjacent communities get their water from the Edwards Aquifer, a honeycombed water-bearing rock that is between 300 feet and 700 feet thick. This huge groundwater system, an artesian aquifer, extends from near the City of Austin, that's located an hour or so drive northeast of San Antonio, in a 160-mile swath east to west into the dry southwest Texas Plains. The aquifer varies from five to 40 miles wide. Until recently, south central Texas relied upon the Edwards for cheap and what residents often believed to be an inexhaustible supply of water. Not so anymore. Water authorities now monitor the Edwards Aquifer daily, and the more water you use, the more you pay per gallon.
SAWS approaches water conservation from two directions — education and enforcement. Its education efforts are aimed at homeowners and the business community. Its broad-based effort includes a Speakers Bureau, information fairs and special events, public service announcements and community conservation committees. Its two-person Education Department is always on the go. Even school children in San Antonio are aware of water-saving initiatives in and around their homes. Homeowners are encouraged to take advantage programs offering free low-water-use toilets and free visits by plumbers to fix leaks, $100 rebates for purchasing and using high-efficiency washing machines and free showerhead/aerator programs.
Efforts by SAWS to reduce water waste in turf and landscape for both homeowner and commercial properties include seasonal irrigation programs, rain sensor rebates, landscape irrigation system analysis, retrofits and regular workshops and water conservation contests.
When the region suffers a drought (which is far from unusual), stringent landscape water-use rules take effect. Those breaking these rules are given an "education visit" for their first violation. The second violation brings a $50 fine and a court appearance.
"The citizens here have become very keen on how to use their water," Perez noted to the ASIC members. "And they've gotten used to the notion that a little brown on their lawns is OK." | 
