Framingham, MA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Framingham's water regulations, City Code Chapter 558, give the Department of Public Works broad authority to limit outdoor water use rather than fixing a permanent watering-day schedule year-round. Section 558-3.5A lets the DPW restrict the use of water for 'secondary purposes' in the City during periods of drought or emergency in order to maintain system pressure, acting under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 21G. Section 558-3.5B goes further: the City may adopt water use restrictions under the same state chapter whenever it determines that conditions exist which limit the water supply and may endanger public health, safety or welfare, and those restrictions remain in full force and effect until the City determines that the condition requiring their imposition no longer exists.

The same section separately bars any user from knowingly allowing water to leak or run to unnecessary waste, and makes customers responsible for maintaining their own plumbing to prevent that waste. Irrigation systems get their own cross-reference: § 558-3.10 requires every irrigation system in the City to be metered and fitted with an approved backflow prevention device, and it states that the City, pursuant to § 558-3.5, may restrict or prohibit the use of irrigation systems and outside watering under MGL Chapter 21G. Because the ordinance ties any specific watering restriction or outright ban to a DPW or City determination rather than printing fixed days in the code itself, the operative restriction in force at any given time is whatever the DPW has currently declared, not a standing calendar rule. Water conservation orders are enforced by the DPW.