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

015, for a stricter landscaping standard than the rest of Kern County. Added by Ordinance No. G-8558 in 2015, Subsection A applies to single-family dwellings inside that plan area: for landscaping installed after the plan's adoption, the front-yard landscape area cannot contain turf at all, every plant and tree in that front-yard area must come from the current Approved Plant List maintained by the Indian Wells Valley Water District, irrigation must use a low-volume system, and irrigation water has to stay on the property during a normal watering cycle rather than running off onto sidewalks or streets.

Subsection A(2) only 'encourages,' rather than requires, existing single-family homes not already covered to follow the same restrictions when they add or replace landscaping. 020 and the statewide Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (Cal. , Title 23, Div. 2, Ch. 7) control new landscaping without an outright turf ban, so this front-yard turf prohibition is unique to the Indian Wells Valley plan area rather than countywide. 040(B) limit turf and off-list plants to no more than half of the required landscape area rather than banning turf outright.

Compliance is reviewed at building permit stage by Kern County Public Works, which checks the landscape or plot plan against the plan area boundary and the Approved Plant List before signing off.