Filling a Pool Under Water Restrictions: What to Check Before You Build

The question almost nobody asks before signing

Homeowners planning a pool ask about cost, timeline, design and finishes. Very few ask whether they will be allowed to put water in it.

In North Texas, in the current conditions, that has become a real question rather than a theoretical one.

Water restrictions here are set by your water provider and your city, not by the state. They change on board decisions rather than on a schedule. And in some cities they reach pools directly, including whether a permit gets issued at all.

This page is about what to check, and when, so that a restriction is something you planned around rather than something you discovered after excavation.

Who actually sets the rules

There is no statewide pool filling rule to look up. What exists is a layered structure.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires public water suppliers to adopt water conservation and drought contingency plans. Those plans define numbered stages and the triggers that move a provider between them.

Your regional wholesaler sets a stage for its service area. Your city then enforces it, and can go further.

Which is why two houses fifteen minutes apart can sit under different rules. They may not share a water provider.

Most of the cities we build in draw from the North Texas Municipal Water District, whose member cities include McKinney, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Wylie, Princeton, Royse City and Farmersville, alongside more than eighty wholesale customer cities. But not every city in this region is on NTMWD. Celina, for example, is supplied through the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, which is a separate provider making separate decisions.

So the accurate answer to what applies to you is your provider and your city, confirmed directly, for your address.

What restrictions typically reach

Most stages are written around irrigation, because lawn watering is the largest discretionary use in a residential system. Pools come up in three ways.

Encouragement. The North Texas Municipal Water District's Water Resource and Emergency Management Plan includes, among its Stage 1 measures, encouraging all users to reduce the frequency of draining and refilling swimming pools. That is guidance rather than prohibition, and it appears early in the sequence.

Evaporation measures. Some plans encourage or require pool covers to reduce evaporation loss.

Direct restriction. At higher stages, and in some cities regardless of stage number, filling can require approval, or new pool permits can stop being issued entirely.

That third category is the one that changes a project, and it is the one people do not expect.

A current example, and why it matters

The City of Celina entered Stage 2 of its Water Conservation Plan effective July 2, 2026.

Under those Stage 2 measures the city has stated that no new pool permits will be issued during Stage 2, and that pools holding permits approved before the stage began may be filled once to prevent structural damage. Separately, the city requires that pool filling activities receive prior approval from its Public Works Department through My Government Online, applying to all permitted pools.

Read that carefully, because there are two distinct things in it. One is a pause on new permits. The other is an approval step on filling, which applies even where a permit exists.

We are naming this as a dated example rather than a permanent rule. Stages move, and Celina has moved between stages before. The point is not that Celina is restricted. The point is that a city in this market can and did stop issuing pool permits, and if you had not checked, you would have found out late.

Confirm the current position with the city before relying on anything on this page.

Filling is not the only water in a build

Worth separating, because they get conflated.

The initial fill. A large volume, delivered once, immediately after plaster. It should run continuously to normal level, because interrupting a fill can leave a visible ring against fresh plaster. More on plaster, fill and startup.

Curing water. A new gunite shell has to be kept wet during its early curing stage. This is not optional and it is not discretionary use. Gunite gains strength through hydration rather than by drying out, and strength not developed in those first days cannot be added back later. Why curing works that way.

Ongoing replacement. Evaporation is significant in a North Texas summer, enough that normal seasonal loss is routinely mistaken for a leak. Why a cover is worth considering at design stage.

If you are in a restricted stage, the curing requirement is the one to raise with your city rather than assume, because it is a structural necessity on a timer rather than a convenience.

What to confirm, and when

All of this is free to establish early and expensive to discover late.

Before you sign. Who is your water provider, what stage are they in, and does your city restrict pool permits or pool filling at that stage. Two phone calls.

Before you finalize your schedule. Whether filling requires an approval step, how long that takes, and who submits it.

Before you sign, again. Whether the water for your fill is included in your contract. It is a common exclusion, and worth asking about specifically rather than assuming either way. How to read a bid line by line.

Before your fill date. Re-check the stage. It may have changed since you signed, particularly on a build that spans a summer.

We handle submittals to the municipality and utility providers as part of our process, but the stage a provider is in is not something any builder controls. What we can do is tell you to check, and tell you when.

One thing this does not change

A pool is not a continuous drain on a water system in the way people assume. The large volume is the initial fill, once. After that, replacement is evaporation, and a cover reduces it.

That is context rather than an argument for building during a shortage. Restrictions exist because the region's supply is genuinely constrained, and a provider deciding to limit pool fills during peak demand is making a defensible call. The useful response is to plan around it rather than to argue with it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I fill a new pool during water restrictions in North Texas?
It depends entirely on your city and your provider. Some stages do not restrict filling at all, some require prior approval, and some cities stop issuing new pool permits at higher stages. There is no statewide answer, so confirm with your city before you rely on anything.

Who sets water restrictions where I live?
Your regional water provider sets a stage for its service area and your city enforces it, and can impose more. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires suppliers to have conservation and drought contingency plans, but the stage in force is a local decision.

Is the water to fill my pool included in my contract?
Sometimes, and it is a common exclusion. Ask specifically, and ask at the same time whether the builder handles any approval that filling requires.

Can restrictions stop my build after it has started?
They can affect the fill and, in some cities, whether a permit is issued in the first place. This is why the check belongs before you sign rather than at the end, and why it is worth re-checking before your fill date on a build that runs through a summer.

Do restrictions apply to keeping my existing pool topped up?
Usually less strictly than to a new fill, and it varies by stage and city. Some plans encourage reduced draining and refilling, and some encourage covers to limit evaporation. Check your city's current stage for what applies.

Does a pool cover actually make a difference?
It reduces evaporation and heat loss, both of which cost water and money. Worth deciding during design rather than after, because automatic covers generally need a regular pool shape to track along.

The bottom line

There is no statewide rule, your provider may not be the one you assumed, and at least one city in this market has stopped issuing pool permits during a conservation stage.

Two phone calls before you sign, and one more before your fill date. That is the whole task, and it is the difference between planning around a restriction and being surprised by one.

Who You Build With Matters®

More on what the state requires and what it does not, and if you want us to walk through what applies at your address, get in touch.