Lakewood, NJ Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Township of Lakewood Code § 16-6.6, part of the Outdoor Landscape Water Conservation ordinance (Ord. No. 2017-25), lists water uses that fall outside the odd-even day and hour restrictions imposed once the Mayor declares a water emergency. Subsection a covers recycled supply directly: 'Outdoor water use from rain water harvesting, gray water, or reclaimed water are exempt from the provisions of the section. Use of gray or reclaimed water must have an approved NJPDES permit issued through the NJDEP.' In practice that means a property using treated effluent, or captured rainwater run through a gray-water system, only avoids the Township's watering-day and watering-hour limits if the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has already issued an NJPDES discharge permit covering that reuse; without the state permit, the exemption does not apply and standard § 16-6.2 restrictions govern the property like any other water user.

The same exemption section also clears commercial farms producing harvestable crops, commercial nurseries, sod farms and golf courses under § 16-6.6b, one-day emergency chemical-treatment watering under § 16-6.6c, newly sodded or planted landscaping for its first 21 consecutive days under § 16-6.6d, and a licensed irrigation contractor's supervised system checks under § 16-6.6e. Lakewood's general code does not otherwise regulate reclaimed-water infrastructure, hookups, or reuse permitting; the NJPDES permit itself, issued by the state, is the operative approval, not a Township office.