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

Article VIII of Chapter 37 governs recycled water, with Sec. ' Sec. 142 requires all new development or redevelopment of commercial, industrial, institutional, governmental, or residential projects of four units or more to install a dual recycled water system for landscape irrigation and other approved Title 22 uses. New public recycled water mains must be at least six inches in diameter, and projects within 100 feet of an existing main must connect; farther projects may instead face an in-lieu impact fee set at 75 percent of the city's estimated implementation cost, including design, construction, administration, and a 15 percent contingency.

Sec. 144 lets the administrative authority (the water utilities director or designee) require existing customers to retrofit onsite facilities for recycled water, after at least six months' notice, with the customer paying capital retrofit costs while the city funds offsite facilities; customers may appeal a mandatory retrofit to the city council on grounds of disproportionate cost, a threat to public health or safety, or technical infeasibility, and must exhaust that appeal before any legal challenge. Sec. 148 requires an approved backflow assembly at every site served by both potable and recycled water, tested per California Code of Regulations Title 17, Sec.

7605, with periodic cross-connection inspections coordinated with the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Sec. 149 makes it unlawful to tap, break, injure, or tamper with any recycled water pipeline or service pipe, and Sec. 152 makes tampering with a recycled water meter unlawful without written city permission.