Salinas, CA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

About 40% of the water Californians use at home goes to the outdoors, which is why landscape irrigation is where the conservation rules that apply in Salinas concentrate. The city's supply is groundwater from the Salinas Valley basin, served by Cal Water, and because that basin faces overdraft and seawater intrusion, water wasted on a lawn here has a direct local cost. Watering is restricted to designated days and times, typically before 9 AM or after 6 PM. Letting irrigation run off onto sidewalks or streets is prohibited statewide, and so is watering during rain or in the 48 hours after rain.

New landscaping over 500 square feet must comply with the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), codified at Title 23, Section 490 and following of the California Code of Regulations. MWELO governs water efficiency standards for both new development and retrofitted landscapes, and it works exactly the way the regulation describes: choosing climate-adapted plants, improving soil conditions, using and maintaining high-efficiency irrigation equipment, and managing the irrigation schedule to fit what the plants actually need in the local climate. Projects subject to MWELO must prepare water budgets and use drought-tolerant plants.

The state framework also identifies rainwater and stormwater collection, graywater, and recycled water as ways to replace or augment potable water in landscapes, an option worth weighing where the potable supply comes from a stressed groundwater basin. During drought emergencies, the State Water Resources Control Board may impose additional mandatory reductions on top of these permanent rules.