San Joaquin County, CA Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

The definition in § 5-3400(e) is narrow and has three parts that all have to hold. The water must come from a local wastewater control facility, it must be supplied from designated hydrants, and that supply must be under permit from the State Regional Water Quality Control Board. Water that fails any of the three is not recycled water for purposes of this chapter, so the exemptions below do not reach it. The standing rule comes first. Section 5-3402(g) prohibits use of water in publicly displayed ornamental fountains in public and commercial establishments, then excepts recycled or recirculated water.

Two things follow from that wording: the fountain ban applies to public and commercial displays rather than to a private yard feature, and recirculated water is placed on the same footing as recycled water, so a fountain that reuses its own water is treated like one running on hydrant supplied recycled water. The drought stages repeat the same carve out. Each emergency conservation stage in §§ 5-3411(d) through 5-3414(c) says restrictions in this stage do not apply to recycled water, or water delivered to a site from a source other than a Water District.

So the irrigation limits, vehicle washing limits and pool filling limits that come with stages I through IV in San Joaquin County ride on Water District supply, and a site running on recycled water keeps operating through every stage. The second half of that sentence is easy to miss and matters just as much: water delivered from a source other than a Water District is also outside the stage restrictions, whether or not it meets the recycled water definition.