Ames, IA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

The Ames Municipal Water Utility does not cap watering days by default. Sec. 28.601 lets the City Council find and declare, by resolution, a public water shortage emergency and then establish one or more of the rationing stages in Sec. 28.602 through Sec. 28.605, binding on all Ames Water Utility customers. Under Stage I: Minor Mandatory Conservation (Sec. 28.603), outdoor vegetation may be irrigated only on even-numbered days at addresses ending in an even digit and on odd-numbered days at addresses ending in an odd digit; ponding or runoff into ditches, gutters, storm sewer inlets or surface drains is prohibited outright, and washing vehicles with potable water is barred except at commercial car washes.

A newly seeded or sodded lawn gets a ten-day exemption (up to 8 hours per 24-hour period) if the owner obtains a New Lawn Exemption Certification Placard from the Department of Water and Pollution Control and displays it visibly from the street. Stage II: Moderate Mandatory Rationing (Sec. 28.604) tightens this to once every five days keyed to the last digit of the service address (for example, addresses ending in 0 or 5 may water the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th), caps irrigation at one inch per day, and confines outdoor watering to 6:00-9:00 a.m. and 7:00-10:00 p.m.; customers also pay a rationing surcharge multiplying the Sec.

28.201 rate tiers by up to 2.0. Stage III: Severe Mandatory Rationing (Sec. 28.605) keeps Stage I and II limits (except the Stage II rate) and further restricts watering of vegetation planted before the declared stage to once weekly at one inch total, bars watering of anything planted after the declaration, and quadruples the rate multiplier for some tiers.