Columbia, SC Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Section 23-70 lets the city manager declare a water shortage "due to drought or any condition affecting the water supply" and immediately impose tiered restrictions once South Carolina's Drought Response Committee or Water Resources Commission signals a drought level. Under moderate drought, residential users, including residential irrigation users, face a voluntary 30 percent cut and all other users a voluntary 15 percent cut. Severe drought makes the 30 percent residential and irrigation cut mandatory while other users stay at a voluntary 15 percent. Extreme drought makes both tiers mandatory: residential and institutional users, including their irrigation use, must cut 30 percent, and all other users must cut 15 percent; "institutional water user" covers governments, schools, churches, and water utilities.

In an extreme emergency, the city manager can cap household use at three cubic feet per day and impose a surcharge of ten times the normal rate on residential use above that cap, and twenty times the rate for institutional, commercial, industrial and recreational overuse. The city manager can also ration water, set user schedules, and shut off service to any customer who will not comply, restoring it only after payment of a reconnection charge set at double the normal tap fee plus other costs.

Anyone who cannot immediately cut back due to equipment problems must start gradual reduction within 24 hours of the declaration and can petition the city manager in writing for a variance within five days.