Yuba County, CA Water Use Rules: Turf Replacement Rebates (2026)

Section 11.24.070(3)c. sets the turf limits inside the county's prescriptive water-efficient landscape standard, which applies to projects with 2,500 square feet or less of aggregate landscape area. Under item 1, "within residential projects, a maximum of 25 percent of the required landscape areas shall be turf or planted with other high water use plants." Item 2 goes further for non-residential sites: "turf is prohibited except for turf areas that are irrigated with recycled water or comprise an essential component of a project (i.e. golf courses, picnic areas, or playing fields), which are exempt from this limit." The remaining items add site-specific bans: turf can't be installed on slopes steeper than 25 percent (a one-foot rise for every four feet run), has to be designed so irrigation doesn't overspray onto hardscape, is prohibited in greenway strips under ten feet wide unless adjacent to a parking strip used for entering and exiting vehicles, and is barred entirely, along with other high-water plants, in street medians.

Projects larger than 2,500 square feet of aggregate landscape area, or an applicant seeking design flexibility, can instead use the Alternative Compliance path in § 11.24.070(4), where a California Registered Landscape Architect designs to the state's Maximum Applied Water Allowance rather than the flat 25 percent cap. Artificial turf is regulated separately, under § 11.24.060(b): it can substitute for planted turf but can't cover more than 50 percent of the required landscape area, can't go on slopes over 25 percent, and must be installed with a drainage system for water infiltration.