Yakima County, WA Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Yakima County has no ordinance requiring or restricting rain barrels or cisterns on residential property; its only regulation of rainwater harvesting sits inside the Stormwater Management Utility chapter as a financial incentive for large buildings. Under YCC § 12.09.150(2), owners of new or newly constructed buildings classified as commercial or industrial, a group that under § 12.09.130 also sweeps in apartments, mobile home parks, schools, churches and government buildings, qualify for a 10% credit against the portion of their annual stormwater utility fee generated by the building served by the harvesting system. The county created the credit because catching and reusing runoff both shrinks the burden a building's impervious surface places on the county's drainage system and cuts the property's draw on the potable water supply.

To get the credit, the owner applies directly to the Public Services Director and must submit engineering design and operational information the director decides is necessary to evaluate the system before approving it. Credits under this section are not cumulative with other stormwater-fee credits, such as the 20% credit available for an active NPDES industrial or confined-animal-feeding stormwater permit (§ 12.09.150(1)), so a property can only apply one adjustment to a given portion of its bill. Requests must be filed with the Director by October 15th of the current year to take effect on the following year's billing; credits are not retroactive to bills already issued, and a late application can miss the coming billing cycle entirely (§ 12.09.150). Residential parcels, which are billed a flat base rate regardless of impervious surface under § 12.09.130(2), are not eligible for this particular credit.