Kings County, CA Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

California broadly authorizes rainwater capture for non-potable use under the Rainwater Capture Act of 2012, and Kings County has no ordinance banning it. For typical residential use, capturing rooftop rainwater in barrels or tanks for landscape irrigation does not require a County permit. The Community Development Agency does administer the California Building Standards Code (including the Plumbing and Green Building Standards codes) through the County building ordinance, so larger or more complex systems are regulated as construction: elevated or large storage tanks (commonly cisterns above 5,000 gallons or tanks on raised supports) can require a building permit for structural and seismic safety, and any system that connects to household plumbing, supplies indoor or potable fixtures, or ties into an irrigation backflow assembly must meet plumbing-code and cross-connection-control requirements. Systems must also avoid creating standing water that breeds mosquitoes, which can become a public-health nuisance. There is no County rebate program for barrels in the unincorporated area; some state and water-agency incentives may apply. Because most unincorporated parcels use private wells, harvested rainwater is generally used to supplement landscape watering rather than for drinking water.