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

330's Water Efficient Landscape Standards, meaning new landscapes of 500 square feet or more and rehabilitated landscapes of 2,500 square feet or more that require a building or landscape permit, plan check, or design review. " The code layers local water purveyor rules on top of that window, stating that "if allowable hours of irrigation differ from the local water purveyor, the stricter of the two (2) shall apply," so a property served by a water district with narrower watering hours has to follow the district's tighter schedule instead of the city's baseline.

The restriction is limited to overhead irrigation specifically; operating the system outside the normal watering window is still allowed for auditing and system maintenance, so a landscape contractor testing sprinkler heads at noon isn't in violation as long as it's for maintenance rather than routine watering. 080 also requires that irrigation schedules be built around the plant establishment period, the established landscape, and any temporary irrigated areas, using current reference evapotranspiration data such as CIMIS or soil moisture sensor readings so that applied water doesn't exceed the project's Maximum Applied Water Allowance.

Because the schedule requirement is part of the Landscape Documentation Package reviewed at plan check, compliance is built into the irrigation controller programming approved before installation rather than checked only through field inspection.