By Jennifer Nations, Water Resource Coordinator
The Memorial Day weekend in the Brazos Valley will be busy with the Texas Weekend of Remembrance, high school graduations, dance recitals, athletic events, and more.
The return of sunny, warm weather also means it an ideal time to make your home and landscape more efficient. If you upgrade your irrigation controller, install a rain sensor, and add mulch to your drought-tolerant plants this weekend, it’s all tax-free.
The Texas Comptroller’s Office has declared a sales tax holiday from Saturday through Monday on the purchase of certain water– and energy-efficient products. This year marks the third time the tax holiday has provided an incentive for Texans to conserve our limited water resources.
Eligible tax-exempt items are things that can be used to conserve or retain groundwater, recharge water tables, or decrease ambient air temperature to reduce water lost to evaporation. Among the eligible items are:
- WaterSense-labeled products.
- Soaker or drip-irrigation hoses.
- Moisture control for sprinkler or irrigation systems (rain shutoff switches or soil moisture sensors).
- Rain barrels (rainwater harvesting equipment is always exempt from state sales tax).
- Permeable ground cover surfaces that allow water to reach underground basins, aquifers or water collection points.
- Plants, trees, and grasses.
- Soil and compost.
WaterSense-labeled products go through an independent, third-party certification process and meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s specifications for efficiency and performance. The beauty is having water-saving products in your home or business that deliver exceptional performance and savings on water bills for years to come.
For more information, visit the Texas Comptroller’s Water-Efficient Products Sales Tax Holiday webpage.
Stay cool this weekend and get ready for water and energy savings!
About the Blogger
Jennifer Nations has been the City of College Station’s water resource coordinator since 1999 after two years as BVSWMA’s environmental compliance officer. She’s also chair of the Water Conservation and Reuse Division for the Texas Section of the American Water Works Association. A native of Fremont, Calif., Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental & resource science from UC-Davis in 1995 and a master’s degree in water management & hydrologic science from Texas A&M in 2016.
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