Water restrictions in Whatcom County, WA — also called the watering schedule, outdoor irrigation rules, or drought ordinance — set which days and hours you can run sprinklers or irrigation.
Whatcom is wet, but water is still governed. Washington follows prior appropriation, and the entire Nooksack basin (WRIA 1) is now in a court adjudication of every water right. Bellingham draws from Lake Whatcom and sets summer conservation rules.
Despite 35-plus inches of annual rain, western Washington summers turn dry from July into September, and Whatcom's water is fully governed. Washington is a prior-appropriation state, so surface or groundwater withdrawals require a water right from the Department of Ecology. In May 2024 Ecology filed a basin-wide adjudication of the Nooksack system (WRIA 1) in Whatcom County Superior Court, a process expected to run 10 to 15 years and touch some 30,000 water users, permit-exempt wells included, driven partly by Lummi and Nooksack tribal instream-flow claims for salmon. City of Bellingham customers follow utility conservation rules that tighten in drought.
Watering outside your utility's schedule brings warnings, surcharges, and escalating fines. Withdrawing surface or groundwater without a valid water right is an Ecology enforcement matter, and the adjudication may curtail unconfirmed claims.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Whatcom County, WA
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