Hempstead, NY Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Between May 1 and October 1 each year, § 70-53A ties outdoor watering to the last digit of the house number: customers and private well owners with even-numbered addresses may sprinkle lawns and water gardens only on even-numbered calendar days, and odd-numbered addresses only on odd-numbered days. , "regardless of the day of the week," so even a customer on the correct odd or even day cannot water during that six-hour midday window. The restriction reaches beyond municipal water customers: § 70-53C expressly subjects owners of private wells that draw on the same groundwater resource, for irrigation or similar purposes, to the same schedule.

The rule sits inside Article II, Water Conservation, whose stated purpose in § 70-49 is to protect the sole-source aquifer that supplies the Department, and it works alongside companion measures in the same article, including mandatory water-conserving fixtures at § 70-52 and water-conserving cooling equipment at § 70-54. The Department enforces the schedule administratively rather than through the courts: § 70-53E requires it to serve a written notice of any civil penalty by personal service or certified mail, with a copy posted on the violator's premises if mailed, and § 70-53F adds the penalty directly to the next quarterly water bill under the billing procedure at § 70-5.