Bowling Green, KY Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 23-4.02 of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances sets up four escalating stages once BGMU's General Manager and the Warren County Water District (WCWD) manager certify a treated-water shortage to the Mayor and the Warren County Judge Executive: a Water Shortage Advisory (voluntary conservation, declared under KRS Chapter 39A), a Water Shortage Alert, a Water Shortage Emergency, and Water Shortage Rationing. Only the Alert stage carries the odd/even outdoor-watering calendar: addresses ending in an odd number may water outdoors only Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and even-numbered addresses only Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, covering car washing, driveway washing, filling swimming pools and fountains, and watering lawns, bushes and trees.

During an Alert, BGMU may add a 20 percent surcharge on usage above a customer's trailing six-month average. An Emergency stage eliminates outdoor water use entirely and raises the surcharge to 50 percent; Rationing eliminates outdoor use, follows BGMU's Drought Response Plan, and raises the surcharge to 100 percent. The Mayor and the Warren County Judge Executive jointly declare and lift each stage, and jointly may issue administrative regulations governing usage while a stage is in effect. If only one utility's service area is short, that utility's manager certifies to the official who appoints its own governing body rather than to both officials.

Violations are enforced per stage rather than under the Chapter's general misdemeanor penalty: an Alert violation draws a fine up to $250, an Emergency violation up to $250 plus as much as 90 days in jail, and a Rationing violation up to $500 plus as much as 90 days in jail, with each day of continuing violation charged as a separate offense.