Valencia County, NM Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

160, Design Requirements for Water Management, sets the water conservation measures every new subdivision in unincorporated Valencia County must meet before the county will approve a final plat. Subsection (B)(1) makes water-saving fixtures such as low-flush toilets, low-flow showerheads, low-flow faucets and hot-water pipe insulation mandatory in all new residential and non-residential buildings. Subsection (B)(2) then addresses landscaping directly: low water use landscaping techniques applying the principles of xeriscaping shall be encouraged in subdivisions outside the valley, or in any subdivision that lacks access to ditch irrigation or irrigation wells, meaning subdividers outside the irrigated Rio Grande bottomland are steered toward drought-tolerant, native-adapted plantings rather than high-water turf.

The same section requires a detailed water demand analysis using the State Engineer's Technical Report 48 step-by-step procedure, and subsection (D) conditions final plat approval on a water right permit or approved domestic wells sufficient to cover the subdivision's maximum annual water requirement. 156(O)'s revegetation standard, which requires planting species adapted to local soils and climate, the water management chapter reinforces that a subdivision's landscaping should minimize irrigation demand rather than fight the valley's arid conditions. Because subsection (B)(2) uses 'encouraged' rather than 'shall require,' xeriscaping is guidance the reviewer weighs in the water demand analysis, not a stand-alone permit condition; the mandatory pieces of the section are the low-flow fixtures and the water-right or well documentation. 999's subdivision penalty provisions.