Tustin, CA Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Tustin does not restrict residents from collecting rainwater; instead it treats capture as a water-conservation tool. California law (the Rainwater Capture Act of 2012) lets property owners install rain barrels and cisterns without a water-right permit, and Tustin's local rules build on that. The City's Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (Ordinance 1465, adopted December 15, 2015) and its implementation Guidelines specifically reward on-site capture. Under the Guidelines' applicability section, a lot or parcel that has less than 2,500 square feet of landscape area and meets its entire Estimated Total Water Use 'entirely with the treated or untreated graywater or through stored rainwater capture on site' is subject only to the prescriptive measures in Appendix A, Section 5 - a lighter compliance path. The Guidelines' Soil and Stormwater Management section states it is 'strongly recommended that landscape areas be designed for capture' and lists design elements such as grading to direct runoff into landscape areas, and incorporating 'infiltration beds, swales, basins, and drywells to capture stormwater and dry weather runoff and increase percolation into the soil.' Larger cisterns or plumbed systems that connect to the building can require building/plumbing permits under the California Plumbing Code, but simple rain barrels for outdoor irrigation are unrestricted. There is no Tustin section number that prohibits rainwater harvesting.