Fort Collins, CO Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Fort Collins adopted the 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC) at City Code § 5-125, then amended it section by section at § 5-126. Item 73 of that amendment list strikes IPC Section 1303, Nonpotable Rainwater Collection and Distribution Systems, out of the code entirely, rather than replacing it with local language the way the City did for dozens of other IPC sections in the same ordinance. The base 2024 IPC's Section 1303 is where the model code sets technical requirements for collecting, storing and distributing rainwater for nonpotable uses; with it deleted, Fort Collins' plumbing code carries no local counterpart setting tank sizing, filtration, cross-connection or distribution-piping standards specifically for rainwater harvesting systems.

That stands in contrast to the immediately preceding IPC Section 1302, covering on-site nonpotable water reuse (graywater) systems, which the City kept and heavily amended in the same ordinance, adding provisions on treatment disinfection for fixture flushing, overflow lines, tank venting and tank drains. The deletion was carried by Ordinance No. 219, 2025, effective December 16, 2025, the same ordinance that also struck Chapter 14, Subsurface Graywater Soil Absorption Systems, from the code in the very next item. Because Section 1303 is gone rather than amended, a property owner or contractor proposing a rainwater collection and distribution system in Fort Collins is not working from a chapter-specific local plumbing standard; the permit review that would otherwise flow from IPC § 1303 does not exist, and any related plumbing work still falls under the code's general provisions and the rest of the adopted 2024 IPC where those sections do apply.