Nashville, TN Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)
Water restrictions in Nashville, TN, also called the watering schedule, outdoor irrigation rules, or drought ordinance, set which days and hours you can run sprinklers or irrigation.
Key Facts
- Authority
- Metro Water Services director, by order
- Trigger
- water supply conditions requiring public safety
- Notice
- published in a daily newspaper
- Duration
- in force until rescinded
- Separate rule
- wilful water wasting always unlawful
Summary
Metro Water Services' director can ban outdoor sprinkling with hose or wagon anytime the water system's condition makes it necessary for public safety, publishing the order in a local paper: the ban stays in force until officially rescinded.
Whenever the condition of the water supply system shall, in the opinion of the director, render it prudent and necessary for the public safety and welfare, to prohibit the use of water for the purposes of sprinkling with hose and wagons or use for elevators, the director may make an order of prohibition, publishing the same in one or more of the daily papers, and it is unlawful to use water for the purpose specified above until such order of prohibition is rescinded.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 53 | Charter: Republication 9).
Full Breakdown
Metro Water Services' director can prohibit outdoor water use, specifically "sprinkling with hose and wagons" and use for elevators, anytime the water supply's condition makes it prudent and necessary for public safety and welfare. The order takes effect once published in one or more Nashville daily papers and stays in force until the director rescinds it; there's no set schedule of watering days, just this standing discretionary authority. A companion section separately outlaws wilfully or maliciously opening a faucet, breaking pipes, or otherwise wasting water furnished by the department, regardless of whether a prohibition order is active.
Violations & Fines
Using water for the banned purpose after the director's order is published is unlawful under 15.28.010; wilfully wasting water, opening a faucet or breaking pipes, violates 15.28.020 and draws the code's general $50-per-day penalty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Nashville set fixed watering days?
What counts as a violation?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Nashville
How Nashville compares: Cities with the Strictest Water Restrictions·Compare Nashville to another location·View the Tennessee landscaping rules overview
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