Laredo, TX Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

City of Laredo Code of Ordinances Sec. 31-217, part of the utilities chapter's water conservation and drought contingency article, states flatly that a property owners' association may not include or enforce a dedicatory-instrument provision that prohibits or restricts a property owner from installing rain barrels or a rainwater harvesting system (subsection (c)(2)). Any covenant clause that violates that protection is void under subsection (d).

The section then carves out the specific controls an HOA keeps. Under subsection (f)(6), a POA does not have to allow a rain barrel or harvesting system on land it owns or owns in common, or on the strip located between the front of the home and the adjoining street, and it can insist the barrel or system match the home's color scheme and not carry language or content atypical of how the device is manufactured. Under subsection (f)(7), the association may also regulate the size, type, shielding and construction materials of a rain barrel or harvesting device sited on the side of the house or anywhere else visible from a street, another lot, or a common area, so long as the restriction does not prevent economical installation and there is reasonably sufficient area on the owner's own lot to install it. Sec. 31-217 traces to Ord. No. 2024-O-095, § 1(Exh. A), adopted May 20, 2024, and was further amended by Ord. No. 2024-O-157, § 1, adopted August 5, 2024, both administered through the City of Laredo Utilities Department's water conservation program.