Doña Ana County, NM Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

The county's Land Use Code does not require property owners to install rainwater harvesting, and single-family homes and duplexes are exempt from the landscaping article altogether under § 350-507A(5)(a). Where the article does apply, chiefly new commercial, industrial, institutional and multifamily development of three or more units, plus the roadway frontage of single-family subdivisions, § 350-507B(1) requires the landscape plan to show the locations of any proposed water harvesting features and hardscape, with dimensions noted, alongside irrigation, plants, ground cover and required buffers. That plan must be prepared by a professional landscape architect, or by a professional engineer or architect of record on nonresidential projects valued at $600,000 or less.

Separately, the county's subdivision water-supply guidelines in § 350-606B recommend water conservation measures for new subdivisions: low-water-use xeriscaping is 'highly recommended,' and § 350-606B(4) treats passive water harvesting, gravity-graded rain gardens, as the recommended best management practice, expressly designed without added tanks, piping, metering or pumps. The code's glossary at § 350-702 separately recognizes active systems using cisterns or barrels with gravity or pump conveyance, but the county's design guidance favors the passive, gravity-fed approach and directs applicants to coordinate any additional overflow routing infrastructure with the county's Engineering and Development Services (EDS) and Community Development Department (CDD) staff. Because these are subdivision-review and site-plan standards, they attach to plat and site-plan review, not to a standalone harvesting permit.