Orem, UT Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Orem City Code 23-4-8(7)(B)(3)(a)
- Retention standard
- Manage 80th-percentile rainfall event on-site
- Post-retention discharge cap
- 60 gallons/minute per acre
- Enforcing office
- Public Works, Storm Water Utility
- Applies to
- New development and redevelopment sites
- Permit gate
- LTSWMP approval required before grading/building permits
Summary
New development and redevelopment in Orem must use site designs that infiltrate, evapotranspire, or harvest and reuse rainwater to keep runoff on-site. The Public Works Storm Water Utility enforces the standard under Orem City Code 23-4-8(7).
The requirements outlined in subsections 1 and 2 above, must be accomplished by the use of a site design that contains a combination of practices including structural and non-structural controls that are designed, constructed, and maintained to infiltrate, evapotranspire, and/or harvest and reuse rainwater.
Full Breakdown
Orem City Code 23-4-8(7)(B) sets minimum stormwater control requirements for every new development or redevelopment site. New development must manage rainfall on-site so no runoff discharges from any rainfall event up to the 80th percentile storm. A redevelopment site that grows impervious surface or building footprint by more than 10% must likewise retain the net increase in runoff volume from that same 80th-percentile event. " Developers must evaluate low-impact development (LID) approaches and may draw on any best management practice listed in the state's Guide to Low Impact Development Within Utah, published by the Division of Water Quality.
Once the 80th-percentile volume is retained on-site, additional discharge is capped at sixty (60) gallons per minute per acre. If a developer believes full infiltration, evapotranspiration, or rainwater harvesting is infeasible, under subsection (B)(4)(a) the developer must document and quantify why, citing conditions like a high groundwater table, drinking water source protection zones, adverse soils, grades, accessibility, or excessive cost, and propose alternative criteria for City approval as part of the Long-Term Storm Water Management Plan (LTSWMP) process under 23-4-8(8). Sites inside Orem's Drinking Water Source Protection Zones (Chapter 21) may seek a waiver of infiltration LID if it raises pollution risk, but must still install other LID that evapotranspires, filters, or harvests and reuses rainwater. No building, grading, or stormwater permit issues until the City reviews and approves a concept LTSWMP.
Violations & Fines
No grading, building, or stormwater management permit may be issued until the City's Storm Water Utility approves a Long-Term Storm Water Management Plan showing how the site meets the 80th-percentile retention standard. A developer claiming infeasibility must submit documentation quantifying why infiltration, evapotranspiration, or rainwater harvesting cannot be fully employed before the City will approve alternative design criteria. Disputes over retention requirements between the City and a developer are resolved under Utah Code 19-5-108.5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Orem require rainwater harvesting on my property?
What happens if harvesting rainwater on-site is not feasible?
Is there a discharge limit once rainwater is retained?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Orem
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