Rockingham County, VA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Rockingham County does not publish a standing lawn-watering calendar in its code. Instead, chapter 16A, article IV (Water Supply Plan and Drought Preparedness and Response Plan) ties enforceable outdoor-watering cutbacks to a formally declared drought stage. Under Sec. 16A-40, the Board of Supervisors has adopted by resolution the Upper Shenandoah River Basin Water Supply Plan to comply with state law and Department of Environmental Quality regulations; the drought preparedness and response plan is a portion of that regional plan. Under Sec. 16A-41, the county administrator recommends and the Board of Supervisors formally declares when a drought stage applies to the unincorporated county outside Harrisonburg and the incorporated towns of Bridgewater, Broadway, Dayton, Elkton, Grottoes, Mount Crawford, and Timberville.

Absent its own declaration, Rockingham County is automatically held to whatever drought stage the Commonwealth of Virginia has declared for the region that includes the county, and the Board may declare a higher stage than the state's. Once a stage takes effect, the mandatory watering days, irrigation limits, and other cutbacks assigned to that stage in the drought preparedness and response plan become enforceable countywide. A violation of a mandatory portion of the plan is treated as a civil matter rather than a criminal one: Sec.

16A-40 sets the penalty at up to $150 per violation, and the county may treat each day a violation continues as a separate violation, with the penalty imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction rather than assessed administratively. Because the restrictions in force change with the declared stage, residents on the county water system should confirm the current stage with the county administrator's office or public works before assuming no cutbacks apply.