Santee, CA Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Santee Municipal Code Chapter 13.36, the Landscape and Irrigation Regulations adopted by Ordinance 566 in 2019, folds rainwater capture into every landscape documentation package Development Services reviews for new construction and rehabilitated landscapes of 2,500 square feet or more. Section 13.36.070(A) ties this directly to the citywide stormwater program in Chapter 9.06, requiring landscape and grading plans to minimize runoff and increase on-site rainwater retention and infiltration rather than treating it as an afterthought. Section 13.36.070(B) makes every landscape and irrigation system subject to the City's active municipal stormwater permit issued by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, and subsection (C) requires friable soil throughout planted areas to maximize retention and infiltration.

Subsection (D) sets a strongly recommended capture and infiltration target: enough capacity to prevent runoff from roofs and paved areas from either the one-inch, 24-hour rain event or the 85th percentile, 24-hour rain event, whichever regional or State rule applies. Subsection (E) lists the specific techniques the City expects applicants to use to hit that target, including rain gardens, cisterns, and other rain harvesting or catchment systems, grading driveways to drain toward vegetated areas, pervious pavers and porous concrete, infiltration beds, swales, basins and drywells, and directing roof and paved-surface runoff into planting beds.

Subsection (F) requires stormwater best management practices during both installation and testing of the landscape and irrigation work. These retention requirements sit alongside the chapter's water-budget rules: new residential landscapes are capped by an evapotranspiration adjustment factor of 0.55 and nonresidential landscapes at 0.45 under Section 13.36.010(A)(13)(d), so on-site capture and reuse directly reduce the metered irrigation a project is allowed. Development Services checks compliance through the landscape documentation package and certificate of completion process required under Sections 13.36.040 and 13.36.050 before final inspection can close out the permit.