New Braunfels, TX Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Chapter 14's irrigation ordinance defines "reclaimed water" as "domestic or municipal wastewater which has been treated to a quality suitable for beneficial use, such as landscape irrigation" (§ 14-50(c)), then sets six conditions before it can go on a New Braunfels lawn under § 14-50(l). The water can't touch edible crops unless the crop is pasteurized before it's eaten, and the irrigation system can't spray reclaimed water across a property line onto land the system owner doesn't own. Every reclaimed-water line and fitting must be installed using purple-coded components, so a plumber or inspector can tell it apart from the potable line, and the point where any domestic potable water joins the system must run through an air gap or a reduced-pressure-principle backflow device.

The code also requires a physical sign at least eight inches by eight inches, in English and Spanish, reading "RECLAIMED WATER — DO NOT DRINK" and "AGUA DE RECUPERACION - NO BEBER," posted in the irrigated area itself, and backflow prevention on the reclaimed-water supply line must follow the city's own utility ordinances on top of the plumbing code. These reclaimed-water conditions sit inside the same section that requires every commercial, industrial, multi-family and, since 2009, residential irrigation system in the city to carry rain and freeze sensors, and that makes it an offense to let a system spray onto pavement or run during precipitation, so a property using reclaimed water still has to meet the base irrigation standards on top of the purple-pipe and signage rules.