Sioux Falls, SD Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

South Dakota — unlike Colorado historically — has never enacted statutory limits on residential rooftop rainwater collection. SDCL Title 46 (Water Rights) applies the prior-appropriation doctrine to streamflow and groundwater diversions but does not regulate the capture of rainwater falling on a private rooftop. The state legislature recognizes rainwater catchment as an eligible improvement under the SD Clean Water State Revolving Fund for management, reduction, treatment, or recapture of stormwater. The City of Sioux Falls promotes rain-barrel installation through Public Works' water-conservation outreach, including a published instructional guide for converting a 32–55-gallon trash can into a rain barrel and tying it to a downspout. No municipal permit, registration, or inspection is required for typical gravity-fed residential rain barrels. Larger cisterns (generally over a few hundred gallons, plumbed into household supply, or used for potable purposes) would trigger plumbing-code review under Sioux Falls's adopted Uniform Plumbing Code and may require a cross-connection control review by the Water Division to protect the public water system.