Orem, UT Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Outdoor water use in Orem is regulated through the staged Water Shortage Management Plan in the 2022 City of Orem Water Conservation Plan rather than a permanent residential watering-day ordinance. Under the plan, the City Manager (or designee) may move through escalating stages: an Advisory Stage encouraging wise water use such as 'outside irrigation during non-daylight hours,' a Severe Stage that may 'Request odd-even watering days, based upon street address,' and a Critical Stage that mandates a reduction of water usage with enforcement. The City reserves the right to select the appropriate rationing phase based on supply reserves and the anticipated duration of rationing. For City-owned property, all regional parks operate on a 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. watering window and all other parks and parkways on a 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. window, with no spot watering outside those windows. Statewide, Utah Code Section 57-8a-231 limits how homeowners associations can restrict water-wise landscaping, barring an association from requiring an owner to keep lawn or turf in any strip less than eight feet wide or to maintain more than 50% non-water-wise vegetation, so Orem residents in HOAs retain a statutory right to convert turf to low-water landscaping.