Water restrictions in Pierce County, WA — also called the watering schedule, outdoor irrigation rules, or drought ordinance — set which days and hours you can run sprinklers or irrigation.
Pierce County government sets no county-wide residential watering schedule; outdoor watering rules are set by your water provider — mainly Tacoma Water and local water districts — which can impose voluntary or mandatory curtailment during shortages under their own utility ordinances.
Unincorporated Pierce County adopts no day-of-week or time-of-day lawn-watering schedule in county code. Water service is delivered by many utilities, principally Tacoma Water (a division of Tacoma Public Utilities) plus smaller water districts overseen by the Health Department. Watering restrictions therefore come from your provider's rules. Tacoma Water operates a multi-stage Water Shortage Response Plan: its ordinance authorizes the Director or Water Superintendent to 'change, reduce or limit the time for, or temporarily discontinue the use of water.' In dry years the utility has used voluntary stages (e.g., cut use ~10 percent; water before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m.). Because the enforced stage changes yearly, confirm current limits with your provider.
Watering restrictions are enforced by the water utility under its own regulations; during a mandatory-curtailment stage a provider such as Tacoma Water can restrict service or impose surcharges. There is no separate Pierce County code penalty for a watering schedule.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Under the Pierce County Park Code (Chapter 14.08), gated parks follow posted hours and, in other areas, no person may be present or park a vehicle more than ...
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Pierce County's exterior illumination standards in PCC 18J.15.085 require lighting to avoid glare and light trespass onto neighboring properties, keeping ill...
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Pierce County's countywide exterior illumination standards in PCC 18J.15.085 require hidden light sources, downward-directed shielded floodlights, and a 3000...
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Garage sale signs are temporary signs under PCC 18B.10.040 in unincorporated Pierce County. They need no permit, but only one non-yard temporary sign is allo...
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In unincorporated Pierce County, political signs are protected speech treated as temporary yard signs under PCC 18B.10.040, need no permit, must stay under 3...
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Unincorporated Pierce County treats a tiny home under 400 square feet on a permanent foundation as a residence permitted like a single-family house, while re...
See how Pierce County's water restrictions rules stack up against other locations.
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