Palm Beach Gardens, FL Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Palm Beach Gardens treats reclaimed water as a preferred, largely unregulated irrigation source rather than something the city restricts. Section 78-553, in the subdivision design standards of the land development code, instructs that "wherever possible" new subdivisions irrigate their landscaped areas using treated effluent or reclaimed water from wastewater treatment systems, pushing developers toward reuse water instead of drawing further on potable supply. Section 74-72(15) defines "reclaimed water" as wastewater that has received at least secondary treatment and basic disinfection and is reused after leaving a wastewater treatment facility, as defined by Rule 62-40.210 of the Florida Administrative Code, tying the local definition directly to the state's water-reuse rule.

That definition matters because Section 74-73(1) exempts the use of reclaimed water, whether or not it is supplemented from another source, from the article that otherwise governs landscape irrigation in the city, meaning reclaimed-water users fall outside the odd/even watering-day schedule and the 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daytime irrigation ban that apply to potable and well water users under Section 74-74. In practice, a property irrigated entirely with reclaimed water from the city's or Seacoast Utility Authority's reuse system can water on any day and at any hour without running afoul of the conservation article, while a mixed system supplementing reclaimed water with another source still needs to track which water is being applied to claim the exemption.