Shelby County has no ordinance prohibiting or specially licensing residential rainwater harvesting. Rain barrels and cisterns are generally allowed, and Tennessee encourages capturing rainwater, though plumbing cross-connections to potable systems remain regulated.
Neither the Code of Shelby County nor the Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code contains a specific ordinance banning or requiring a permit for residential rainwater harvesting. Homeowners in the unincorporated county may generally install rain barrels or cisterns to capture roof runoff for outdoor use. Tennessee places no restriction on collecting rainwater, and state programs support capture for conservation. Any system connected to a home's potable plumbing must comply with the state plumbing code's cross-connection and backflow-prevention rules, and larger structural cisterns may require a building permit. Because the county keeps no dedicated rainwater ordinance, residents should confirm building-permit thresholds with Construction Code Enforcement and follow good practice for tank placement and mosquito control.
Simple rain barrels are not a code violation. Enforcement issues arise only from unpermitted structural cisterns or from cross-connecting a harvested-water system to potable plumbing without required backflow prevention, which the plumbing code and Code Enforcement address through correction orders.
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See how Shelby County's rainwater harvesting rules stack up against other locations.
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