Water restrictions in Buffalo, NY — also called the watering schedule, outdoor irrigation rules, or drought ordinance — set which days and hours you can run sprinklers or irrigation.
Buffalo draws drinking water from Lake Erie via the Buffalo Water Authority and rarely imposes drought restrictions. Routine outdoor watering is unrestricted, but the Authority asks customers to conserve during extreme summer demand spikes.
The Buffalo Water Authority operates the Col. Francis G. Ward Pumping Station and supplies the city and several suburbs from Lake Erie - one of the most abundant freshwater sources in North America. As a result, Buffalo does not have seasonal lawn-watering day/time restrictions like arid-state cities. Customers may water at any time. During rare heat-advisory periods or system maintenance, the Authority may issue voluntary conservation requests (no car washing, limited irrigation), but enforcement is informal. Separate DEC drought-emergency rules could theoretically trigger restrictions region-wide, but Western NY has never faced a declared drought emergency in recent decades.
No routine fines. During a declared state drought emergency, DEC penalties could apply (up to several hundred dollars).
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See how Buffalo's water restrictions rules stack up against other locations.
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