Community
Redding adopts limits on watering decorative grass with drinking water
Redding’s updated water rules phase in limits on using drinking water for decorative grass at businesses, HOA common areas and qualifying public properties.
REDDING, Calif. The grass in a shopping center parking lot may look like any other lawn, but how people use it matters under Redding’s updated watering rules. The Redding City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2695 on October 20th, 2026, to bring the city’s water code in line with California Assembly Bill 1572.
The rules restrict the use of drinking water on what the law calls nonfunctional turf. That generally means mowed grass that serves as decoration, such as a strip beside a business sign or a patch in a parking lot island. Grass used for sports, recreation or community gatherings falls outside that definition. Individual home lawns are outside the scope of this law.
When the rules apply in Redding
- January 1st, 2028 for covered commercial, industrial and institutional properties, including decorative grass at shopping centers and office properties.
- January 1st, 2029 for common areas managed by homeowners associations, common interest developments and similar organizations.
- January 1st, 2031 or later for qualifying local government properties in disadvantaged communities. Redding lists its own properties in this group, and the timing depends on state funding.
California’s first phase begins January 1st, 2027, for certain public properties elsewhere. Covered property owners can keep the grass if they stop using drinking water to irrigate it by the applicable deadline. Recycled water can still be used where available.