Santa Maria, CA Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Section 12-44.09(c) permits recycled water systems and graywater systems for landscape irrigation, but conditions their use on City approval and conformance with the state's Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance standards. This sits alongside Section 12-44.03(f), which lets smaller projects, 2,500 square feet of landscape area or less, meet their entire Estimated Total Water Use with treated or untreated graywater instead of doing the state's specific water budget calculations. The city also uses recycled and graywater systems as a marketing and education tool: Section 12-44.09(a) requires residential developers to post signage and give written information at model homes demonstrating water-efficient design elements, specifically calling out graywater systems and rainwater catchment among the low-water-use approaches to be shown to buyers.

Section 12-44.09(b) gives the city separate authority to require a landscape irrigation audit from a property owner if it identifies excessive irrigation water use or signs of a poorly performing system, regardless of whether recycled or graywater is involved. All of this operates under Chapter 12-44's broader purpose in Section 12-44.01, implementing Government Code Section 65590 et seq. and the state's 2015 Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, with city standards controlling if the two conflict.