Alhambra, CA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)
Water restrictions in Alhambra, CA, also called the watering schedule, outdoor irrigation rules, or drought ordinance, set which days and hours you can run sprinklers or irrigation.
Key Facts
- Plan II watering days
- No more than once every 3 days
- Plan II hours ban
- 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. banned
- Plan III schedule
- Tue/Thu/Sat only, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Enforcer
- Water Division, Dept. of Public Works
- 2nd violation penalty
- 15% bill surcharge plus $1 per unit
- 4th violation penalty
- Flow restrictor 48+ hrs, $25 fee
Summary
When the City Council activates Water Shortage Plan II, Alhambra bars landscape irrigation more than once every three days and forbids watering between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. citywide, with an even tighter two-day, Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, 8 a.m.-to-6 p.m. schedule once Plan III takes effect.
(G) No customer of the Water Division shall use or allow the use of water from the City Water Division for landscape watering more often than every three days.
(H) No customer of the Water Division shall use or allow the use of water for landscape watering between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-25: Supplement contains: Local legislation current through Ord. 4851, passed 10-27-25).
Full Breakdown
Chapter 15.25, the city's Water Shortage Plan, lets the City Council implement escalating tiers by public proclamation published once in a newspaper of general circulation, effective immediately on publication (§ 15.25.070). Plan I asks customers, on a voluntary basis, to hold landscape watering to three days a week and avoid the 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. window (§ 15.25.080(A)(5)-(6)). Plan II converts those into mandatory prohibitions: no landscape watering more often than every three days, and none between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (§ 15.25.090(G)-(H)), on top of bans on washing hard surfaces or vehicles without a shutoff-valve hose, refilling pools emptied during the shortage, watering within 48 hours of measurable rain, and irrigating non-functional turf at commercial, industrial and institutional sites except to protect tree health (§ 15.25.090(J), (K), (L)).
Plan III (Ord. 4672, passed 6-22-15) tightens the schedule further to two days a week, limited to Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (§ 15.25.100(G)-(H)), and Plan IV imposes percentage-based rationing of 50% to 90% of a customer's historical base-period use (§ 15.25.105). The Water Division of the Department of Public Works administers and enforces every tier, and public-health and safety uses such as police, fire and emergency power-washing are exempt (§ 15.25.075).
Violations & Fines
The Water Division issues a written notice for a first violation of any conservation phase. A second violation within the same shortage period carries a surcharge of 15% of the water bill plus $1 for each billing unit used above the customer's allowed percentage; a third draws a 50% surcharge plus $2 per excess unit. A fourth or later violation triggers installation of a one-gallon-per-minute flow-restricting device on the service line for at least 48 hours, plus a $25 restoration charge before normal service resumes (§ 15.25.110).
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Alhambra
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