Norfolk, VA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

1, the Norfolk city manager may declare four escalating water-shortage conditions for the city's water system (Sec. 1-54). Condition 1 asks residents to voluntarily conserve. Condition 2, triggered when supplies are very limited, bans outdoor watering of shrubbery, trees, lawns, grass, plants and other vegetation, with exceptions for indoor plantings, greenhouse or nursery stock, and commercial nurseries watering freshly planted stock once a week for five weeks after planting (Sec. 1-54(2)a). The same Condition 2 order also curtails washing of vehicles and boats outside recycling-equipped facilities or a three-gallon bucket, bans filling or refilling swimming and wading pools drained after the order, halts ornamental fountains, restricts fire-hydrant water use to firefighting, and limits restaurants to serving drinking water only on request.

Condition 3, for critically limited supplies, adds mandatory customer-by-customer reductions: the city manager can order up to a 25 percent cut from the customer's prior 12-month average usage, sets a floor of 50 gallons per person per day per household, and bills any use above the allocation at 300 percent of the current water rate set under Sec. 1-32. Condition 4, for supplies that are drastically limited, lets the city manager add further restrictions and, under Sec. 1-55, impose fines and penalties for excess water use.

Every Condition 2, 3 or 4 declaration must be documented in a written report filed with the city clerk and sent to city council (Sec. 1-56). Once Condition 3 is declared, a three-member appeals review board, one of whom represents the Department of Utilities, hears appeals of allocation and excess-usage-charge determinations and can approve, modify or revoke them by a two-member vote; its decision is final (Sec. 1-57).