Loveland, CO Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Chapter 12.36, 'Ditches and Canals,' regulates the irrigation ditches, races, drains, and flumes that cross Loveland, a legacy of the city's agricultural water infrastructure. Section 12.36.030 makes it unlawful for any person to dump, discard, throw, or in any manner place trash, refuse, or any objects whatsoever into a ditch or canal within the city limits, with no exception carved out for size or type of material. The same chapter separately bans swimming or floating on any device in a canal or ditch, under § 12.36.020, and requires anyone who owns or builds a ditch, race, drain, or flume crossing a public street to bridge it for safe travel, under § 12.36.010.

Section 12.36.040 sets the penalty for both the dumping ban and the swimming ban: conviction is punished as provided in § 1.12.010, Loveland's general penalty section, rather than under a chapter-specific fine schedule. That means a dumping conviction draws a fine consistent with C.R.S. § 13-10-113, or up to 364 days in jail, or both, plus a $15 court surcharge on top of the fine, with each day a violation continues treated as a separate offense under the general penalty rule. The dumping ban applies citywide within Loveland's Larimer County limits and covers any ditch or canal inside city boundaries, regardless of who owns or maintains it; it doesn't reach ditches on private irrigated land that never cross public property, though other Code provisions on nuisances and property maintenance can still apply there.