Monterey Peninsula moves to enforce potable-water ban on nonfunctional turf
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, California · Meeting date: October 19, 2026 · Published: October 20, 2026
The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District voted unanimously to advance Ordinance 203, which would make irrigation of nonfunctional turf with potable water a district water-waste violation. The package also shortens the life of certain water-use credits and prevents rebate recipients from later claiming credits for the same device.
Key points
- The board approved the first reading of Ordinance 203 by a 7-0 vote; a second reading is still required before the ordinance can be adopted.
- Proposed Rule 142.2 would implement a state prohibition on potable-water irrigation of nonfunctional turf and treat violations as water waste.
- The rule would be phased in across Department of General Services properties, institutional properties and homeowners associations; the first reporting requirement would not occur until 2030.
- Single-family residential lawns and functional turf would be exempt from the proposed prohibition.
- Other amendments would reduce the period to reclaim a credit from a permanent removal of water use from 10 years to five years and bar later credits for devices that received district rebates.
Full report
The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District has taken the first formal step toward enforcing California’s ban on using potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf, voting 7-0 on 19 October to approve the first reading of Ordinance 203.
The ordinance would add Rule 142.2, under which irrigation of nonfunctional turf with potable water would be treated as a district water-waste violation. Staff said the district is becoming an enforcer of the state prohibition. Compliance would be phased, beginning with Department of General Services properties and later extending to institutional properties and homeowners associations. The first reporting requirement would not be due until 2030.
Staff stressed that the proposed restriction would not apply to single-family dwelling lawns or to turf considered functional. The packet described several exceptions to the new rule.
While the turf restriction is the principal policy change, Ordinance 203 also rewrites several water-permit, capacity, credit, rebate and landscape provisions. The package would eliminate the district’s conditional water-permit programme and add use limitations to water permits. It would also formalise existing practices on meter requirements and common-laundry capacity.
The proposed credit changes would shorten the time to reclaim a water-use credit created through a permanent removal of water use, such as removal of a fixture, from 10 years to five. Staff said the district is seeking to move away from reliance on credits and toward water releases from local jurisdictions for projects, while noting that fewer opportunities to establish credits now exist because technology and state rules have changed.
Properties receiving a district rebate for a device would no longer be able to claim a water credit for that same device later. Staff said Ordinance 201 had already ended the previous option of repaying a rebate to obtain a credit; the new language would make the restriction clearer in applications and customer communications.
The ordinance also incorporates a Water Demand Committee recommendation that, where a home has multiple dishwashers, all must meet high-efficiency requirements.
Staff said comments from the Technical Advisory Committee would still be addressed, and general counsel review and a California Environmental Quality Act determination remained pending. If the board adopts the ordinance after its second reading, it would take effect 30 days later. Staff indicated the likely effective date would be near year-end, while the General Manager has discretion to address transition cases in which homeowners have already incurred costs or progressed through permitting.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Board of Directors, Monterey Peninsula Water Management District