National City, CA Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Chapter 14.12 (Unlawful Water Uses) in Title 14 (Water and Sewers) of the National City Municipal Code is the city's rule on leaking and wasted water. Section 14.12.060 declares it unlawful for any person, legal or natural, to waste or to cause or permit to be wasted any water furnished, supplied or delivered by any agency distributing water for public benefit within the city. The wording does not depend on who runs the water system. The sewer chapter itself refers to a water system maintained by the Sweetwater Authority or any other public or private agency, and this chapter reaches water from any of them.

Section 14.12.070 supplies the test for a leak. It is prima facie evidence of a violation for any person to permit water supplied from the public source to the premises owned, occupied or controlled by that person to escape, flow or seep from those premises. A running hose, a broken irrigation line or a failed service pipe that lets water leave the property is therefore enough to start a case. Section 14.12.080 then puts prima facie responsibility on the person ostensibly in possession, control or ownership of the premises where water is wasted. The section names possession, control and ownership together and does not choose between owner and occupant.

These four sections do not print a reporting duty to the city or a repair deadline. The exposure attaches to the person who lets the water escape, and the penalty is set in Section 14.12.090.

Related sections fill in the repair side. Section 14.06.170 makes the property owner responsible for maintaining the building sewer or drainage piping within property lines. Section 18.44.190(R) requires owners of approved landscapes to repair the irrigation system and replace broken components with equal or better parts. Section 14.22.070(C) allows water main break and line flushing discharges into the storm drain system only when they have coverage under NPDES Permit No. CAG679001 or a successor order.