{"id":393615,"date":"2026-07-31T16:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/393615\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T16:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:35:42","slug":"illegal-pool-discharges-are-on-the-rise-in-austin-heres-how-to-drain-your-pool-the-right-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/393615\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal pool discharges are on the rise in Austin. Here’s how to drain your pool the right way."},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 As Central Texas continues through another hot summer<\/a>, Austin Watershed Protection said it\u2019s seeing a slight increase in reports of illegal pool and hot tub discharges this spring and summer.<\/p>\n

Biz Yarbrough, a Senior Environmental Compliance Specialist with the city, said her division investigates reports of illegal water discharges.<\/p>\n


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\u201cOur storm inlet drains do go directly to our creeks and, eventually, the river,\u201d Yarbrough said. \u201cAnything that goes into the street and the curb is going to eventually wind up in our waterways.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the goal is to educate pool owners first, but repeat or serious violations can result in enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\nWhy chlorinated pool water is a problem <\/p>\n

While pool water may look clean, Yarbrough said chlorine and other chemicals can harm aquatic life if discharged the wrong way.<\/p>\n

She said chlorine is the most common pollutant her team encounters during pool discharge investigations.<\/p>\n

“Large amounts of chlorinated water can cause fish kills,” Yarbrough said.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\nHow to legally drain your pool <\/p>\n

Yarbrough said homeowners should never drain pool filter backwash into a storm drain or waterway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We recommend discharging to landscaped areas so that the water can just soak into the ground rather than running off of your property,” Yarbrough said. “The best case scenario is going to be a slow drip of dechlorinated, pH-neutral water.”<\/p>\n


\nWhat are the penalties? <\/p>\n

The city said unauthorized water discharges can carry fines of up to $2,000 per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city also offers a Swimming Pool Maintenance guide<\/a> with step-by-step instructions for homeowners on proper pool maintenance and disposal practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To keep waterways clean, Austin Watershed Protection said residents can volunteer to adopt a storm<\/a> drain.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 As Central Texas continues through another hot summer, Austin Watershed Protection said it\u2019s seeing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-393615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}