Water Waste in San Diego

The City handles these differently. Water bubbling up from the street, a sidewalk, a fire hydrant or a water meter box, or flowing steadily when nobody is watering, may be a leak in the City's system; the City's water conservation page says to report leaks, sewer spills and pressure problems at 619-515-3525. Our water leaks and main breaks guide covers that, including who is responsible on each side of the meter.

Water waste is about how water is used on a property: sprinklers spraying the sidewalk or running during a storm, irrigation runoff streaming down the gutter, a broken sprinkler head left gushing, or pavement washed down with an open hose. That is what this guide covers.

The City's Water Use Restrictions page describes year-round permanent mandatory restrictions meant to make conservation a permanent way of life. Its enforcement page puts it plainly: wasting water is always illegal, even when no drought level is in effect. The rules are in San Diego Municipal Code Chapter 6, Article 7, Division 38, mainly section 67.3803. The ones residents most often notice:

Section 67.3803 also covers businesses: restaurants and bars may serve drinking water only on request, hotels and motels must offer guests the option of not having towels and linens washed daily, single-pass cooling systems are not allowed, and drinking water may not be used to irrigate non-functional (decorative) turf at commercial, industrial and institutional properties, following the timelines in California Water Code section 10608.14. That last rule does not apply to functional turf, such as grass used for recreation, or to turf watered with recycled water.

• City water customers. Section 67.3804 applies the division to anyone using water provided by the City of San Diego, including businesses, schools and government agencies. The Water Use Restrictions page says that if your water bill comes from a different agency, you should check that agency's restrictions.
• Other water sources. The division does not apply to water from private wells, reclaimed (recycled) water or grey water systems (section 67.3804(e)).
• Watering hours exceptions. The 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. limit does not apply to watering required by a landscape permit, erosion control, establishing or repairing public school and park fields, re-establishing landscaping after a declared disaster (for up to two months; after that a hardship variance is needed), repairing an irrigation system with an operator present, and certain watering by nurseries and commercial growers (section 67.3803(l)). None of these allow runoff.
• Health and safety. Section 67.3803 makes an exception where water use is needed for an immediate health and safety need or to meet a condition of a state or federal permit.
• City-maintained landscaping. Section 67.3804(i) says the division does not apply to areas serviced by the Parks and Recreation Department, including the public right-of-way, street trees and parks, which are watered on a schedule set by the City. Broken City sprinklers can still be reported; see below.

On top of the permanent rules, the City can add restrictions during a shortage. In an ordinance effective July 15, 2026, the City Council rewrote this part of the code: the former Drought Response Levels were replaced with Water Shortage Levels 1 through 6, drawn from the City's Water Shortage Contingency Plan. Under the new section 67.3805, each level is declared by City Council resolution on the City Manager's recommendation, and the City publishes notice in a newspaper and may also post it on its website. The Council adopted the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan, which comes with the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan, on May 11, 2026, according to the City's water supply page.

During recent droughts, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted emergency statewide bans on practices such as runoff from overwatering, watering within 48 hours of rain and running fountains without recirculating pumps. Its emergency regulations page says the emergency ban on wasteful water uses expired on December 21, 2023, and the emergency ban on watering decorative grass at commercial, industrial and institutional properties expired on June 5, 2024. The same page says Assembly Bill 1572, passed in 2023, phases in a permanent ban on watering decorative grass at those properties, and that local agencies may adopt different or stricter rules.

A permanent statewide regulation on wasteful water uses was considered in 2018; as of November 4, 2026, the Board's regulations page lists that rulemaking as in progress. Its separate regulation to Make Conservation a California Way of Life took effect January 1, 2025 and is aimed at water suppliers' overall use, not at individual households. For a City of San Diego customer, the City's own permanent rules above are the ones that apply day to day.

The City's Water Use Restrictions and enforcement pages list these routes:

• Get It Done. Report through the Get It Done app or website; the City encourages photos and video. As of November 4, 2026, the City's guide to Get It Done reports lists Over Irrigation, handled by the Stormwater Department, for landscape watering that sends water into the storm drain system. The form showed an estimated resolution time of 60 days.
• Email [email protected] with a description and the address.
• Call 619-533-5271. The Stormwater Department's code enforcement page gives this number and the email above for water waste that does not reach the storm drain, such as sprinklers soaking sidewalks or driveways.

Who responds. If over-irrigation reaches the storm drain system (the gutter, the street or a storm drain inlet), the Stormwater Department's enforcement team responds. All other water waste goes to the Public Utilities Water Waste Team. Other questions: 619-515-3500 or [email protected].

Details that help an investigator:

• Where. The address, or the nearest cross streets (for example "near Elm Street and 30th Street"), and which side of the property or which part of a median or park.
• When. The day and time, since the watering-hours rule depends on it, whether it had rained in the past two days, and whether it happens on a regular schedule.
• What. A photo or short video showing the source (a broken head, a sprinkler aimed at the pavement, an open hose) and where the water goes: onto the sidewalk, down the gutter or into a storm drain.

Runoff is also a water quality issue. The City's stormwater code, Municipal Code Chapter 4, Article 3, Division 3, defines an illicit discharge as anything entering the storm drain system that is not entirely stormwater, and expressly includes irrigation runoff (section 43.0302). Section 43.0304 makes it unlawful to cause a non-stormwater discharge to the storm drain system, apart from the categories allowed under section 43.0305. The Stormwater Department's code enforcement page explains that storm drain water is not treated and flows straight to creeks, bays and the ocean, and lists irrigation runoff, wash water and power-washing water among the discharges it wants reported.

• Storm Water Pollution Hotline, 619-235-1000. The City says calling during business hours, while the discharge is happening, gets it addressed fastest. You can also email [email protected].
• Get It Done. Over Irrigation for sprinkler runoff; Illegal Discharge for wash water, oil, grease, pool or spa water or other material.

Our storm drains and flooding guide covers clogged drains, pollution reports and the Stormwater Department's escalating enforcement in full.

• City parks. As of November 4, 2026, the City's Get It Done page lists a Sprinkler/Irrigation report type under Parks and Recreation, for timing malfunctions and broken sprinklers. Give the park name and where in the park the problem is.
• Medians and other public landscaping. If water is running into the street or a storm drain, use Get It Done's Over Irrigation type or call 619-235-1000. Otherwise, email [email protected] or call 619-533-5271 and describe the location. Section 67.3803(m) prohibits watering decorative grass on public street medians with drinking water.
• Schools, businesses, apartment complexes and HOAs. These are City water customers like anyone else if the City bills them, so the permanent rules apply. Telling the property manager directly is often the quickest fix for a broken head; you can report it to the City either way.

The City's enforcement page says it emphasizes education over penalties and issues citations only as a last resort. Staff from Public Utilities and Stormwater investigate reports. In its words, the process looks like this:

• Warning or Notice of Violation. If a report cannot be verified, or nothing links the waste to a customer, a warning notice is sent. A Notice of Violation has no fine; it tells the property owner about the violation and the possible penalties. The page says that when the Mayor and City Council have declared a drought, staff issue Notices of Violation for confirmed complaints.
• Administrative Citation. A Code Enforcement Officer follows up with a site visit, and if the problem has not been corrected, can issue a citation on the spot. Citations are $100, $250, $500, $750 and up to $1,000. Violations count per property, not per fixture: after a notice for one broken sprinkler head, a different leak on the same property can bring a citation.
• Further steps. Continued waste can be referred to the City Attorney for civil or criminal action, and water service can be shut off as a last resort. The City says it weighs the shortage level in effect, earlier enforcement, public health and safety, the amount of water wasted and the impact. Municipal Code section 67.3807 says violations are subject to criminal, civil and administrative penalties, and that service may be discontinued or limited with a flow-restricting device for anyone who willfully keeps violating the rules.

Runoff that reaches the storm drain can also be handled under the stormwater rules, which have their own escalating enforcement; see our storm drains guide.

• Timers and rain. Set irrigation to run before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m., and turn it off during rain and for 48 hours after.
• Leaks and broken heads. The code expects leaks to be fixed or stopped when you find them, or within 72 hours of a City notice. Irrigation leaks do not qualify for a leak adjustment on your water bill; see our water bill guide for what does.
• Free residential water survey. The City's water use surveys page offers free surveys to City water customers in homes and buildings of up to eight units. A Water Conservation representative walks the property, checks toilets, faucets and showerheads, and looks at the irrigation system for problems such as tilted or clogged sprinkler heads, overspray and misting from high pressure. Participants may receive free devices such as low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. The tenant or occupant must be present, and the City notes the survey is not a specialized leak detection service. Larger apartment properties can have on-site staff trained to do the evaluations.
• Businesses and institutions. The same page lists a free Irrigation Checkup for commercial, industrial and institutional properties under one acre, and a free Water-Wise Business Survey.
• How to request one. Online (you need your account number), by phone at 619-980-9754 (Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or by email to [email protected] with your name and daytime phone number.