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

Chapter 17.12 (Landscaping) applies its water-efficiency design criteria to new construction and rehabilitation projects with a net landscape area of 2,500 square feet or more, and to homeowner-installed residential landscapes of 5,000 square feet or more, under the applicability thresholds in Section 17.12.020. Within that framework, Section 17.12.050 lists design criteria qualifying plans must incorporate, and subsection (A)(3) targets turf directly: turf use shall be minimized, turf areas shall be used wisely in response to functional needs and shall not exceed the maximum annual applied water allowance, and where turf is installed, warm-season turf is strongly encouraged.

The maximum annual applied water allowance (MAWA) is the water budget calculated under Section 17.12.040; a plan that oversizes turf beyond that budget fails the design criteria the community development director checks before issuing a certificate of completion under Section 17.12.090. Section 17.12.050 pairs the turf limit with related criteria: protecting existing native species, favoring lower-water trees, shrubs and groundcover, and encouraging mulch and stormwater capture. Existing landscapes of an acre or more with a dedicated water meter face ongoing monitoring instead: Section 17.12.100 lets the city run irrigation audits and water-use analyses against the same MAWA standard, using a 0.8 evapotranspiration adjustment factor for those older sites.