San Jacinto, CA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Section 13.04.070 of the San Jacinto Municipal Code is the city's water conservation and supply shortage program. Its permanent requirements apply at all times, and violations count as waste and an unreasonable use of water. The first is a limit on watering hours: no watering or irrigating of lawn, landscape or other vegetated area with potable water between nine a.m. and five p.m., Pacific Standard Time, on any day. The exceptions are a hand-held bucket or similar container, a hand-held hose with a positive self-closing shut-off nozzle, and very short periods to adjust or repair an irrigation system. A second permanent rule limits unattended systems to no more than fifteen (15) minutes of watering per day per station, with exemptions for very low-flow drip systems where no emitter produces more than two gallons per hour, and for weather-based controllers or stream rotor sprinklers meeting a seventy percent (70%) efficiency standard. Runoff onto a sidewalk, driveway, street, alley, gutter or ditch is also prohibited.

Three shortage levels add day limits. At Level 1, watering is limited to three days per week on a schedule established and posted by the city, and from November through March to no more than one day per week. At Level 2, the limit drops to two days per week, again with one day per week from November through March. At Level 3, watering or irrigating with potable water is prohibited, except listed uses such as hand-watered vegetation, existing landscape needed for fire protection or erosion control, and landscape in active public parks, playing fields, day care centers, golf course greens and school grounds, limited to two days per week. Drip zones with no emitter above two gallons per hour are exempt from the Level 1 and Level 2 day limits.

The city manager declares each level, and the level can be declared by resolution at a public meeting. Requirements take effect on the tenth day after the declaration, and the city must publish the resolution within five days. The chapter does not apply to recycled water or to commercial nurseries and commercial growers watering plants for sale. A customer with undue hardship can apply for a waiver, and the finance director acts within ten days.