Peoria, AZ Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

City Code § 25-63(b) makes reclaimed water use mandatory, not optional, for large landscaping: any new turf facility of ten acres or more built after May 7, 2005 within a half mile (2,640 feet) of a reclaimed water service line, including public or private rights-of-way landscaping, parks, retention and detention basins, designated open space, and golf course development, must use reclaimed water for irrigation. Where a customer's project must wait on the City's construction schedule for that infrastructure, § 25-63(c) permits interim potable use only under a signed reclaimed water use service agreement, with a surcharge up to 25 percent of the potable rate during the interim period.

Because reclaimed water is a limited resource, § 25-62 sets a strict delivery priority: City recharge facilities first, then City rights-of-way and park turf, then contracted customers using it for required turf uses, then privately maintained landscaping such as HOA common areas, and finally single-year delivery requests. Section 25-65(c) lists what a customer may never do with delivered reclaimed water: let it enter dwelling units, connect it to any potable line, spray it on edible crops or gardens, allow human or animal body contact, fill swimming pools, or resell it.

Section 25-66(b) repeats the same prohibitions specifically for hose bibs, quick couplers, and air-cooling systems. All customers must sign a Reclaimed Water Use Service Agreement per § 25-67(a) before receiving service, and the Water Services Director sets application, inspection, signage, and rate requirements under § 25-61(a). This program is distinct from the state's Active Management Area groundwater rules administered by the Arizona Department of Water Resources; Peoria's reclaimed water ordinance governs only water already delivered through the City's own effluent-reuse distribution system.