Downey, CA Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

5's use restrictions treat recycled water separately from potable supply because it draws on a different, non-potable source. , a window shifted later at night and earlier in the morning than the potable schedule, and the Director of Public Works or a designee can approve exceptions where public access is restricted, subject to State Water Board or Los Angeles County sign-off. Section 7350(a)(4) removes the six-minute-per-station duration cap that applies to potable water, so recycled-water systems can run as long as needed provided every other Municipal Code provision, including the runoff ban in § 7350(a)(7), is still met.

Section 7350(a)(6) drops the day-of-week schedule entirely: recycled water can be applied any day, unlike potable water's two- or three-day limit. Beyond the use restrictions, § 7353(c)(8) of the Water Conservation design standards obligates new construction and existing property renovations to connect to recycled water for landscape irrigation and other approved non-potable purposes, such as toilets, cooling and industrial process water, whenever recycled-water infrastructure runs adjacent to the project. The City, State and other local recycled-water agencies must approve that use, and the City can waive the mandate case by case if compliance is deemed overly burdensome. Recycled water itself is defined in § 7353(b) as reclaimed or treated sewage effluent rendered suitable for non-potable uses, explicitly not for human consumption.