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

180, adopted by Ordinance 1475 in 2015, governs recycled water in landscape design. Subsection (A) requires that recycled water irrigation systems, meaning dual distribution systems, be installed to allow for current and future recycled water use unless a written exemption has been granted. Subsection (B) requires all recycled water irrigation systems to be designed and operated in accordance with both City of Palmdale and State codes. 0 for new and existing nonrehabilitated special landscape areas. Subsection (D) makes use of recycled water mandatory for irrigation unless the local water agency grants a written exemption stating that recycled water meeting public health codes and standards is not available and will not become available in the foreseeable future.

Subsection (E) addresses water quality: if the irrigation water, recycled or blended, has electrical conductivity at or above three deciSiemens per meter (or 2,000 mg/L total dissolved solids), a leaching fraction of up to 10 percent of the maximum applied water allowance may be included in water-use calculations, and the chapter incorporates by reference the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources 2005 salt-tolerance guide for recycled water irrigation.