Lubbock, TX Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

019(d), the irrigation and mulching subsection of the UDC's landscaping installation rules, allows a development to use reclaimed, recycled, gray water, non-potable surface water, rainwater, or another alternative water harvesting system for landscape irrigation, provided the setup follows Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards for that source. 10, Division 2 of the Code of Ordinances, the city's Backflow Prevention Ordinance, so a recycled-water hookup still has to be cross-connection safe. That backflow article separately requires, for systems permitted after October 1, 2006, that irrigation be designed and installed to prevent contamination of the potable supply, and that any property installing an automatic sprinkler system purchase a separate meter dedicated only to irrigation, with a normally closed master valve, a freeze sensor that shuts the system off at 35 degrees, and a rain sensor.

Elsewhere in the UDC, buildings over 3,000 square feet in the Base Public and Nonresidential districts are required to install an automatic underground irrigation system for their landscaped areas, which is the context in which a recycled or reclaimed water source most often gets used; smaller buildings and xeriscape-only areas can instead irrigate with a hose bib. 10, Division 2), rather than leaving the method open-ended.