West Bloomfield, MI Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Township Code § 24-156 is written as a temporary emergency measure tied to demand on the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department supply through the West Bloomfield Water Supply System, pending completion of a seventy-two-inch transmission watermain. It only takes effect once the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) notifies the township that supply or pressure demand cannot be accommodated. Twenty-four hours after that notice, watering lawns or landscaping with Detroit-sourced water becomes a violation except between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., and only on an alternate-day basis: even-numbered street addresses may water on even-numbered calendar days, odd-numbered addresses on odd-numbered days.

If that first tier does not sufficiently cut demand, MDHHS can trigger a second, stricter notice under which all lawn and landscape watering is prohibited outright and the township may not permit any additional water-system extensions from the Detroit supply. The township must broadcast notice of either tier's activation within 24 hours of the MDHHS notification, using radio, television and, where feasible, newspapers, with restrictions taking effect immediately following announcement between 7:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. Hand-held, attended hose watering is exempted from both emergency tiers.

Violations of the watering restriction are enforced as violations of article II of chapter 24, which the township can act against alongside its general enforcement provisions.