Chapel Hill, NC Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Section 23-64(a)(1) of the Chapel Hill Code sets a year-round schedule for spray irrigation rather than a drought-only rule. Even-numbered properties may run spray systems on Sundays, Wednesdays and/or Fridays; odd-numbered properties may run them on Tuesdays, Thursdays and/or Saturdays, with the street address on the property, or an OWASA special arrangement, controlling which schedule applies. Watering is confined to the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m., and the ordinance caps total spray application at no more than one inch of water in any given week.

The three-day, odd/even schedule does not apply to underground or drip irrigation, micro spray, low-precipitation bubblers, soaker hoses, hand watering, tree or shrub watering bags, or watering of containerized nursery stock held for resale, all treated by the ordinance as more efficient methods exempt from the calendar restriction. Section 23-64(a)(2) separately requires every irrigation system to carry an automatic controller with a rain or soil moisture sensor that shuts the system off during rainfall or when the ground already holds enough moisture. Section 23-64(c) carves out limited exceptions, including forty-five days of extra watering for newly sodded or seeded lawns and new plantings, one day of watering after a chemical treatment, firefighting and firefighter training, dust control, and construction water use, each still confined to the 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. window where the exception says so.

Public purpose athletic fields, recreational fields and botanical sites can operate outside the year-round schedule if OWASA has approved a water conservation plan for that facility under Section 23-64(b).