Yakima County, WA Code Violation Reporting: Common Violations (2026)

020 designates a specific list of nuisances forbidden countywide. It bars dumping carcasses, offal, garbage or human or animal excrement into any lake, pond, river, creek, reservoir, irrigation canal or ditch, well, spring or drain, and bars livestock from having access to those waters. Pit privies, cesspools or septic drains cannot sit within 200 feet of any state waters. Stables, barnyards, hogpens, corrals, feedyards and rabbit hutches within 300 feet of an occupied building, a highway, or a human residence cannot be allowed to become foul, nauseous or offensive, and accumulated manure or litter at those sites must be removed daily.

A dead animal cannot be left within 300 feet of a public road or inhabited building for more than 12 hours; the property owner (or tenant, if leased) is responsible for sanitary disposal, and if the owner cannot be found, the road supervisor for that district handles disposal and bills the animal's owner. Dumping garbage or refuse on any public highway or public land is a misdemeanor, as is establishing an unauthorized public or private dump without written permission from the county board of health after a published hearing.

Camping or living in a tent, vehicle or trailer on state, county, railroad or private property outside a recognized, sanitary campground is also listed as a misdemeanor nuisance. Wastewater from a house sink, waste drain or septic tank cannot be discharged into an open ditch or onto a neighbor's property, nor thrown on open ground within 300 feet of an occupied building.