Sparks residents may collect rooftop rainwater for outdoor, nonpotable use. Nevada's Assembly Bill 138 (2017) legalized de minimis rooftop collection from single-family homes, exempting it from state water-right permits. Drinking use stays prohibited.
For most of Nevada's history, prior-appropriation water law treated captured precipitation as belonging to downstream water-right holders on systems like the Truckee River, so residential rainwater harvesting was effectively barred. Assembly Bill 138, signed in 2017, changed that: it exempts de minimis collection of precipitation from the rooftop of a single-family dwelling for nonpotable domestic use from the water-right permitting requirements of NRS Chapter 533. Rain barrels and modest cisterns for garden and landscape irrigation generally need no permit. Larger storage or any tie-in to household plumbing can trigger building or plumbing permits and backflow protection. At Sparks' 4,400-foot elevation, guard barrels against winter freezing.
No penalty for ordinary rooftop rain barrels. Drinking collected water, or diverting a stream or ditch without a water right, violates Nevada water law. A large cistern plumbed in without a required permit is a code violation.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Washoe County.
See how Sparks's rainwater harvesting rules stack up against other locations.
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