Edmonds, WA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Edmonds does not run a standing odd/even watering-day schedule. 060 authorizes the public works director or a designee to activate the city's water shortage response plan whenever a water supplier reports a shortage or the director reasonably determines one is imminent. Once triggered, irrigation, cooling, sprinkling and other water uses citywide, or for particular customer classes, may be forbidden, restricted or regulated, and rationing can be imposed in lieu of or alongside other measures. The director must notify the mayor and city council within 24 hours of learning of an impending emergency, and the mayor or director then issues a public notification of the declared emergency and restrictions.

Restrictions take effect immediately on that notification and must be published at least once in a daily newspaper within seven days, with notice also sent to television and radio stations. If restrictions run longer than 21 days, the director must schedule a public hearing before the city council within seven days of the declaration. 061 lets the director grant case-by-case exceptions, including for newly seeded or sodded lawns, food sources, landscape plantings required by the architectural design board, and situations that would otherwise cause unnecessary economic hardship or threaten health, safety or welfare.

00 for each violation after that, added directly to the customer's water bill; a warning notice precedes the first surcharge, and a customer can appeal a violation notice within five working days of delivery. 063 lets the public works director, community services field staff, or any Edmonds police officer enforce the chapter, and authorizes installing a water-restricting device or terminating water service for a second or later violation.