San Francisco CA Water Restrictions 2026

Current water restrictions in San Francisco, California

San Francisco is under a Total Reduction Framework enforced by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), meaning residents must meet percentage-based reduction targets rather than follow a fixed day-of-week watering calendar. The SFPUC — which manages water supply for roughly 2.7 million customers across San Francisco and parts of Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties — issues conservation requirements tied to system-wide supply conditions rather than rigid scheduling blocks. There is no prohibition on watering Tuesday versus Friday; the obligation is to reduce overall consumption against a baseline.

San Francisco's conservation program is year-round and mandatory, not a seasonal add-on. The SFPUC's authority to impose these requirements flows from its Regional Water System master plan and the Urban Water Management Plan it files with the California Department of Water Resources. Triggers include reduced inflows to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, regional drought declarations, and State Water Project allocation cuts.

At the state level, California is under a Level 1 Conservation notice. The Metropolitan Water District issued this notice to its 26 member agencies in March 2026 after State Water Project allocations were cut to 30% of contracted amounts — the fourth consecutive below-average precipitation year for much of the state. San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy system is separate from MWD, but statewide conditions influence SFPUC's own reduction targets.

San Francisco's Mediterranean climate also factors into how these rules work in practice. Coastal fog — particularly the marine layer that rolls in from the Pacific through the Golden Gate — substantially reduces evapotranspiration rates for much of the year, meaning many San Francisco yards need far less supplemental irrigation than inland California cities. The SFPUC explicitly accounts for this in its water budgets and efficiency benchmarks.

Practically speaking: yes, a resident can water their garden on a Wednesday morning. There are no banned days or prohibited hours for hand watering. Sprinkler systems cannot run between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but beyond that, the focus is on hitting your household's overall reduction target — not on which day you do it.

Watering schedule and allowed days

Rule	Details
Days per week	7 (no day-of-week restrictions)
Day assignment	No address-based or odd/even schedule — total reduction target applies
Allowed hours for sprinklers	Not between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Hand watering	Permitted any time; shut-off nozzle required on hoses
Drip irrigation	Exempt from hour restrictions; counts toward overall usage
New sod/seed	Typically a 30-day establishment window — register with SFPUC before planting

Unlike Los Angeles, San Diego, or East Bay Municipal Utility District customers, San Francisco water customers are not assigned an odd/even address-based watering day. Instead, the SFPUC sets a system-wide reduction percentage — during drought stages this has historically ranged from 10% to 25% — and tracks compliance through meter reads aggregated at the account level. Your job is to keep your total monthly consumption within the budget the SFPUC calculates for your account type and parcel size, not to water on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.

The 9 a.m.–5 p.m. sprinkler restriction applies system-wide during mandatory conservation periods. Watering before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. reduces evaporative losses — especially relevant in San Francisco's summer afternoons, when afternoon winds off the bay accelerate surface evaporation even when temperatures are mild. Drip irrigation and soaker hoses are exempt from the time window because their delivery method inherently reduces runoff and evaporation.

Multi-family residential buildings and commercial properties are managed under separate SFPUC account structures, but the reduction target obligation applies equally. Building managers at apartment complexes — particularly in neighborhoods like the Sunset District and Richmond District, which have more landscape square footage per parcel than the dense eastern neighborhoods — should audit irrigation controllers and consider weather-based (ET) controllers to stay within budget automatically. For newly established plantings, San Francisco's coastal fog means even young California live oaks (Quercus agrifolia), coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), and New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) — all common in SF residential gardens — need less supplemental water than their inland counterparts once root systems are established beyond the 30-day window.

What happens if you violate restrictions in San Francisco?

Offense	Penalty
First violation	Written warning — no fine assessed
Second violation	Monetary fine issued by SFPUC
Repeat/ongoing violations	Escalating fines; potential flow restrictor installation

The SFPUC's enforcement approach begins with education rather than immediate penalties. A first documented violation — such as running sprinklers during the prohibited 9 a.m.–5 p.m. window, or allowing water to run off a property onto a sidewalk or gutter — results in a written warning. A second confirmed violation moves to a monetary fine. Persistent violations can result in the installation of a flow restrictor on the service connection, a significant operational consequence for any property. The SFPUC publishes its current fine schedule on sfpuc.org; fine amounts can be adjusted when SFPUC's Board of Directors updates its schedule, so verify current amounts directly with the commission.

Enforcement comes through multiple channels. SFPUC field crews conduct visual patrols in neighborhoods, and the commission runs a customer complaint hotline through which neighbors can report observed violations — runoff pooling in the street, sprinklers running at noon, or car washing with a free-flowing hose. The SFPUC has also expanded its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) network, which allows analysts to identify consumption spikes indicative of irrigation system problems or over-watering. If you receive a warning notice and believe it was issued in error, you can request an administrative review through SFPUC's Customer Services division; document your irrigation schedule and controller settings before that meeting.

Other outdoor water rules

San Francisco's mandatory conservation rules extend well beyond lawn irrigation. The following restrictions apply during the current mandatory conservation period:

• Car washing: Washing vehicles with a hose is prohibited unless the hose has a self-closing shutoff nozzle. Commercial car washes that recirculate water are exempt.
• Sidewalk and driveway washing: Hosing down sidewalks, driveways, patios, or parking areas is prohibited. A broom or pressure washer using recirculated water must be used instead.
• Fountains and decorative water features: Ornamental fountains that do not recirculate water must be shut off. Recirculating systems are permitted but must be maintained to minimize evaporation and leakage.
• Pool and spa filling: Filling new pools or spas is prohibited without a valid permit. Topping off existing pools to compensate for evaporation and splash-out is allowed; draining and refilling is not permitted without SFPUC authorization.
• Restaurant water service: Restaurants may only serve drinking water to customers upon request — a rule codified during prior drought declarations and maintained during mandatory conservation periods.
• Construction water use: Contractors using potable water for dust control or grading must obtain an approved Water Pollution Prevention Plan and demonstrate that non-potable or recycled water sources are not available on site.
• Runoff prohibition: Allowing water to flow off your property onto pavement or into a storm drain during any outdoor watering activity is prohibited, regardless of the water use type.

Water source and infrastructure

The vast majority of San Francisco's drinking water — approximately 85% in a normal water year — originates from the Tuolumne River watershed in the Sierra Nevada, stored behind O'Shaughnessy Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley within Yosemite National Park. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir has a capacity of approximately 360,000 acre-feet. Water flows by gravity — no pumping required for most of the journey — through the 167-mile Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct into the Bay Area.

Before reaching taps, Tuolumne River water is treated at the Thomas E. Cahill Water Treatment Plant in Sunol, Alameda County, and at the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant in San Bruno. The SFPUC also operates the Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant. The system includes major in-Bay-Area storage at San Antonio Reservoir (in Alameda County, capacity approximately 50,500 acre-feet) and Calaveras Reservoir (also in Alameda County, capacity approximately 96,850 acre-feet), both of which provide regional buffer storage when Hetch Hetchy deliveries are reduced during drought or infrastructure maintenance.

Crystal Springs Reservoir on the San Francisco Peninsula — the large body of water visible from I-280 — serves as a terminal reservoir, storing water for immediate distribution to San Francisco and Peninsula customers. It holds approximately 23,300 acre-feet at full capacity. The SFPUC also maintains the smaller Pilarcitos Reservoir in San Mateo County as a supplemental source.

The remaining roughly 15% of supply can come from local groundwater through the Westside Basin aquifer under San Francisco's western neighborhoods, though this source is used primarily as an emergency or supplemental supply. When Hetch Hetchy storage drops — as it did during the 2012–2016 and 2020–2022 drought periods — the SFPUC activates purchase agreements with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Zone 7 Water Agency in Alameda County to supplement supply, both of which draw partly from the State Water Project via the South Bay Aqueduct.

Brown lawn protections in California

California Government Code § 65595 and its companion legislation, including AB 2100, prohibit homeowners associations from fining, penalizing, or taking adverse action against residents who reduce or eliminate lawn irrigation in compliance with a water agency's drought-related restrictions. If the SFPUC has declared a mandatory conservation stage — as it has under the current Total Reduction Framework — your HOA legally cannot impose a fine or levy a penalty simply because your lawn has gone dormant or turned brown as a direct result of complying with those restrictions.

The protection applies specifically to water-efficient landscaping decisions made in response to a water agency's emergency or mandatory conservation declaration. It does not exempt homeowners from maintaining landscaping free of dead plant debris that creates a fire hazard, or from complying with HOA rules about invasive species or hardscape standards that are unrelated to water use. Review your CC&Rs with the specific SFPUC conservation stage in hand, since some HOAs attempt to reframe aesthetic objections as non-water-related maintenance violations.

If your HOA has sent a notice of violation or threatened a fine related to your brown or unwatered lawn, use this template as a starting response:

"Dear [HOA Board/Management Company]: I am writing in response to your notice dated [date] regarding the condition of my lawn at [address]. My current landscaping reflects reduced irrigation undertaken in direct compliance with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's mandatory Total Reduction Framework conservation requirements. Under California Government Code § 65595 and AB 2100, a homeowners association may not impose a fine, assessment, or other penalty on a member for reducing or eliminating the watering of vegetation during a period of mandatory water restrictions declared by a water supplier. I respectfully request that this notice be withdrawn and that no adverse action be taken. I am happy to provide documentation of the SFPUC's current mandatory conservation declaration upon request."

Lawn care during restrictions

San Francisco's Mediterranean climate — mild, wet winters and dry summers — supports a specific set of turfgrasses. Only the following are relevant to SF homeowners:

Grass Type	Drought Tolerance	Summer Dormancy?	SF Suitability
Tall Fescue	Moderate–High	Partial dormancy under severe stress	Good; stays green in fog belt
Bermudagrass	High	Dormant below 50°F (rare in SF)	Fair; struggles in cool, foggy microclimates
UC Verde Buffalograss	Very High	Yes, goes dormant in dry season	Excellent for sunny, drier SF microclimates
Fine Fescue	Moderate	No	Good in shaded, fog-heavy areas

San Francisco's microclimate variation is more dramatic than almost any other American city of its size. The Sunset District and Inner Richmond receive significantly more fog and cooling than Noe Valley, Bernal Heights, or the Mission District, which can be 10–15°F warmer on summer afternoons. Tall Fescue performs reliably in the foggy western neighborhoods and can often maintain acceptable color through summer with very little supplemental irrigation — sometimes none. If your lawn has gone dormant under restrictions, avoid core aeration until conditions allow resumption of regular watering; disturbing a drought-stressed root zone without follow-up irrigation causes more damage than leaving it alone.

The SFPUC's Water-Wise Landscaping program and San Francisco's participation in the Bay-Friendly Landscaping guidelines both actively encourage replacement of cool-season turfgrass with low-water-use alternatives. UC Verde Buffalograss — a variety developed specifically for California's Mediterranean climate by UC Riverside — needs as little as 25% of the water that Tall Fescue requires once established, and it tolerates the SFPUC's mandatory reduction targets without going completely brown. For sun-exposed areas in drier SF neighborhoods, this is the most water-budget-compatible turf option currently available. Bermudagrass is a reasonable choice in warmer SF microclimates but performs poorly in the persistent fog zones of the western half of the city.

Common questions about San Francisco water restrictions

What days can I water my lawn or garden in San Francisco?

Any day of the week. San Francisco does not use an odd/even address system or assigned watering days. The SFPUC's Total Reduction Framework focuses on your overall consumption relative to a baseline target, not which specific day you irrigate. The only time-of-day restriction is that automatic sprinkler systems cannot operate between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Can I water with a hose any time I want?

Hand watering with a hose is allowed at any hour, but your hose must be equipped with a self-closing shutoff nozzle — a hose left running unattended or flowing freely is a violation regardless of what time it is. You must also prevent water from running off your property onto sidewalks or into the street gutter.

Does the SFPUC use smart meters to detect over-watering?

Yes. The SFPUC has been expanding its Advanced Metering Infrastructure network across San Francisco, which transmits near-real-time consumption data to the utility. Analysts can flag accounts showing consumption spikes inconsistent with household size and parcel area — a pattern often consistent with irrigation system leaks or sustained over-irrigation. This does not mean every high read triggers an enforcement action, but it does mean unusual spikes get reviewed rather than going unnoticed until the next billing cycle.

What rebates does the SFPUC offer for turf removal or water-efficient upgrades?

The SFPUC runs a Water Assistance Program and participates in California's statewide turf replacement rebate programs, which have historically paid per-square-foot incentives to replace irrigated lawn with drought-tolerant landscaping. The SFPUC also offers rebates for high-efficiency toilets, weather-based irrigation controllers (ET controllers), and clothes washers. Rebate amounts and availability change with funding cycles; check sfpuc.org under the "Conservation" or "Rebates" section for current offers. The Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), which represents wholesale customers in Alameda and San Mateo counties, runs parallel programs for residents in those areas.

Is my landscaper liable for violations, or am I as the property owner?

The property owner of record is the SFPUC account holder and bears primary responsibility for compliance. However, if you have a landscaping contractor managing your irrigation system, SFPUC notices and warnings will come to you — not the contractor — and you will be responsible for any fines assessed. Make sure your landscaping contract explicitly requires the contractor to program irrigation controllers in compliance with current SFPUC restrictions, and confirm the programming whenever restrictions are updated.

Can I fill my hot tub or swimming pool during the current restrictions?

Filling a new pool or spa is prohibited without SFPUC authorization during mandatory conservation periods. If you already have a pool, you may add water to compensate for normal evaporation and splash-out losses, but draining and refilling is not permitted without prior SFPUC approval. Covering your pool with a solar cover significantly reduces evaporation, which is particularly relevant in San Francisco's windy, bay-adjacent neighborhoods where evaporative losses can be higher than expected despite moderate temperatures.

Does San Francisco's fog mean I don't need to irrigate at all in summer?

It depends heavily on your neighborhood and plant types. In the Outer Sunset, Inner Richmond, and areas of the Excelsior with consistent marine layer, established drought-tolerant plants — particularly California natives and Mediterranean-climate species — may need little to no supplemental summer irrigation. However, vegetable gardens, newly planted trees, and non-native ornamentals in warmer SF microclimates like the Mission, Potrero Hill, or Visitacion Valley can experience genuine drought stress during the June–October dry season. The SFPUC's online water budget tool accounts for local ET data rather than using a single citywide figure, so your water budget will already reflect your neighborhood's fog exposure to some degree.

What happens if I stop watering entirely and my lawn dies — can I just pave it over?

Replacing turf with impervious paving (concrete, asphalt) is generally not encouraged by the SFPUC and may require a permit from San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection or the San Francisco Public Works department, particularly if the area drains to a city sidewalk or curb. The SFPUC and San Francisco's urban stormwater program both prefer permeable alternatives — decomposed granite, gravel, or drought-tolerant groundcovers — over solid hardscape, which increases stormwater runoff into the combined sewer system. If you want to remove your lawn permanently, contact SFPUC's conservation team about the turf replacement rebate program before you start work.

What time can I water in San Francisco?

Watering is allowed Not 9am-5pm for sprinklers. Watering outside these hours is a violation even on your assigned day.

What are the fines for watering violations in San Francisco?

First offense: Warning first. Repeat violations: Fines. Contact SFPUC for the full enforcement schedule.

When will water restrictions end in San Francisco?

Current Total Reduction Framework restrictions are in effect through Year-round. Monitor https://sfpuc.org for the latest status.

How do I report a water waste violation in San Francisco?

Contact SFPUC or visit https://sfpuc.org. Most utilities accept online reports and respond within 48 hours.