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WateringTimes

Anaheim Public Utilities (APU)

Anaheim Watering Schedule

No set daysRules verified August 28, 2026

Any day is allowed. Level 1 is voluntary

  • No watering days are assigned. WSCP Level 1 has no day-of-week row at all, and the city states that Anaheim does not currently have any mandatory irrigation restrictions in place.
  • Encouraged, not enforced: limit watering of outdoor ornamental landscaping or turf to the hours between six (6) p.m. and nine (9) a.m., except as necessary for irrigation system maintenance and repairs.
  • Encouraged, not enforced: no more than eight (8) minutes per station for non-conserving nozzles such as spray head sprinklers and bubblers.
  • Encouraged, not enforced: no more than fifteen (15) minutes per cycle and up to two (2) cycles per permitted watering day per station for high efficiency sprinkler nozzles.
  • No drip irrigation minute limit exists. The word drip does not appear once in the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan.
  • Standby only: odd and even address days return if the Public Utilities Board or the City Council declares Level 2 or higher.

Anaheim assigns no watering days right now. Anaheim Public Utilities sits at Water Reduction Plan 1, which the current plan also labels WSCP Level 1, Conservation Awareness, and Table 5 marks it "(Voluntary)", so the city's own FAQ states: "Anaheim does not currently have any mandatory irrigation restrictions in place." The three days per week rule that aggregators still show lived in the pre-2026 Chapter 10.18, which Ordinance 6626 replaced in full on June 9, 2026, and the city adds that "Eased restrictions mean that it is no longer required to only irrigate 3 days per week." Level 1 only encourages: water between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., and hold spray head sprinklers and bubblers to eight minutes per station. Odd and even watering days come back only if the Public Utilities Board or the City Council declares Level 2 or higher.

How many minutes on each watering day

Anaheim Public Utilities (APU) assigns no watering days, so nobody can tell you how many days to split the week across. Set the days you actually water and this works out the minutes from Anaheim's climate for the month you pick.

Climate data

Anaheim · 50.3 in/yr

About 32 minutes per watering day, 2 days a week.

How that was worked out

Week's climate demand: 6.5 in for July × 7 ÷ 31 days = 1.468 in

Plants need: 1.468 × 0.8 = 1.174 in this week

Run time: 1.174 ÷ (1.6 in/hr × 0.7) × 60 = 63 min per week

Split: 63 ÷ 2 watering days = 32 min each time

If water runs off the edges before the cycle ends, split each day into shorter back-to-back cycles with a soak break between them. The total minutes stay the same.

Rain is not subtracted here. Skip watering during and after rain, and follow your supplier's rain rule. Point-source drip emitters and Bubblers are not in the list above: no manufacturer publishes an inches-per-hour rate for them, so those zones are watered by volume rather than by a run time against a rate.

Want the full method, the nozzle rate tables and their sources? Open the run time calculator.

Current status

Water Reduction Plan 1, which the current plan also labels WSCP Level 1, "Conservation Awareness", up to a 10% demand reduction and expressly marked "(Voluntary)" in Table 5. Instrument that put it in place: a City Council vote on July 18, 2023 that moved Anaheim down from Water Reduction Plan 2 to Water Reduction Plan 1, as stated on the city's own Water Supply and Water Conservation FAQ pages. That level has NOT been repealed and is still the operative status. What HAS been repealed is the old framework it was declared under: the entire pre-2026 Chapter 10.18, including the former sections 10.18.070 and 10.18.080 that carried Water Reduction Plans I through IV and the Ord. 6332 (May 19, 2015) history. Ordinance 6626, adopted June 9, 2026, replaced Chapter 10.18 in full, and the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan approved by City Council on May 12, 2026 is now the document that carries the actual watering rules. Level 1 is voluntary, so no watering day restriction is enforceable in Anaheim right now.

The schedule

IN EFFECT NOW: Water Reduction Plan 1 / WSCP Level 1 (Conservation Awareness). Voluntary.

Year round. Anaheim prints no seasonal date ranges anywhere in its current code or plan. The rules are keyed to a declared shortage level, not to calendar dates, so there is no summer or winter split to report.

Days: No watering days assigned, mandatory or encouraged. Level 1 of the 2025 WSCP contains no day-of-week row at all. The city states on its own FAQ page: "Anaheim does not currently have any mandatory irrigation restrictions in place." and "Eased restrictions mean that it is no longer required to only irrigate 3 days per week."

Hours: Encouraged only, not enforceable. The 2025 WSCP Level 1 row reads: "Encourage customers to limit the application of potable water to outdoor ornamental landscaping or turf to the hours between six (6) p.m. and nine (9) a.m., except as necessary for irrigation system maintenance and repairs". The enforcement column for this row reads "No". The city's FAQ separately encourages watering "in the evening and early morning hours".

Run-time limits: Encouraged only, enforcement column "No". Non-conserving nozzles (the plan gives spray head sprinklers and bubblers as the examples): "Encourage customers to limit the application of potable water to no more than eight (8) minutes per station". High efficiency sprinkler nozzles: "Encourage customers to limit the application of potable water to no more than fifteen (15) minutes per cycle and up to two (2) cycles per permitted watering day per station". DRIP IRRIGATION: no per-station minute limit exists. The word "drip" does not appear once in the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan.

STANDBY, NOT IN EFFECT: Water Reduction Plan 2 / WSCP Level 2 (Moderate). Mandatory if declared.

No calendar dates. Would run from the effective date of a Level 2 declaration by the Public Utilities Board or the City Council until rescinded or modified.

Days: Mandatory, no more than three (3) days per week for outdoor ornamental landscaping or turf. As printed: "the application of potable water shall only occur on (a) Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday for odd-numbered street addresses; and (b) Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday for even-numbered street addresses. Street addresses ending in 1/2 or any fraction shall conform to the permitted uses for the last whole number in the address."

Hours: Mandatory, enforcement column "Yes": "Limit the application of potable water to outdoor ornamental landscaping or turf to the hours between the hours of six (6) p.m. and nine (9) a.m., except as necessary for irrigation system maintenance and repairs".

Run-time limits: Mandatory, enforcement column "Yes". Non-conserving nozzles (spray head sprinklers and bubblers): no more than eight (8) minutes per station. High efficiency sprinkler nozzles: no more than fifteen (15) minutes per cycle and up to two (2) cycles per permitted watering day per station. No drip irrigation figure is stated.

STANDBY, NOT IN EFFECT: Water Reduction Plan 3 / WSCP Level 3 (Moderate, up to 30%). Mandatory if declared.

No calendar dates. Would run from the effective date of a Level 3 declaration until rescinded or modified.

Days: Mandatory, no more than two (2) days per week. As printed: "the application of potable water shall only occur on (a) Tuesday or Saturday for odd-numbered street addresses; and (b) Thursday or Sunday for even-numbered street addresses. Street addresses ending in 1/2 or any fraction shall conform to the permitted uses for the last whole number in the address."

Hours: Not restated in any Level 3 row. The 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. window is printed only in the Level 1 and Level 2 rows, and the plan never states that levels stack, so the status of the hours window at Level 3 is not settled by the text.

Run-time limits: Not restated in any Level 3 row. Same open point as the hours window above.

STANDBY, NOT IN EFFECT: Water Reduction Plan 4 / WSCP Level 4 (Severe to Extremely Severe, up to 40%). Mandatory if declared.

No calendar dates. Would run from the effective date of a Level 4 declaration until rescinded or modified.

Days: Mandatory, no more than one (1) day per week. As printed: "the application of potable water shall only occur on (a) Tuesday or Saturday for odd-numbered street addresses; and (b) Thursday or Sunday for even-numbered street addresses." Note that the plan prints the same four day names here as at Level 3 while capping use at one day per week.

Hours: Not restated in any Level 4 row.

Run-time limits: Not restated in any Level 4 row. Level 4 does add that previous waivers for watering during a landscape establishment period will be revoked, and that no new landscape installations or renovations will be permitted.

STANDBY, NOT IN EFFECT: Water Reduction Plans 5 and 6 / WSCP Levels 5 and 6. Mandatory if declared.

No calendar dates. Level 6 (greater than 50% shortage) also requires the City Council to declare an emergency water shortage under California Water Code section 350, after a public hearing unless an exception applies.

Days: Zero days. Level 5: "All irrigation is prohibited." Watering of all golf course areas is prohibited, and watering of parks, school grounds and recreation fields is prohibited except for rare plant or animal species. Level 6: "The City may shut off all non-essential water services. All irrigation is prohibited."

Hours: Not applicable, since all irrigation is prohibited at these levels.

Run-time limits: Not applicable, since all irrigation is prohibited at these levels.

Exceptions and standing rules

  • Nothing to be excepted from right now. Anaheim is at voluntary Level 1 and assigns no watering days, so the exceptions below matter only if the city declares Level 2 or higher.
  • Spot watering with a hand-held hose to maintain trees or plants other than turf. Written into the day-limit rows at Levels 2, 3 and 4.
  • Irrigation system maintenance or repairs. Excepted from both the day limits and the 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. hours window.
  • Large Landscape Area holding an Alternative Compliance Plan approved by the APU General Manager or designee, under AMC 10.18.100. A Large Landscape Area is defined in AMC 10.18.030.080 as vegetation at least three (3) acres in size supporting a business necessity or public benefit use, including parks, golf courses, schools and cemeteries. The plan must require weather-based irrigation controllers, a set reduction in potable water use, and use of recycled water where the city offers it. The approval can only change or increase the designated watering days of the week, nothing else.
  • Hardship waiver under AMC 10.18.110, for unique circumstances causing undue hardship. Applied for on a Department form with photographs, maps or drawings. The General Manager or designee decides and that decision is final. A denial leaves the violation open to enforcement under AMC 10.18.140.
  • Recycled water. AMC 10.18.020.030 places any use of recycled water outside the chapter entirely.
  • Water needed for testing and maintenance of the water system or the city fire suppression system, for fire suppression, or for similar emergency services affecting public health and safety.
  • Water needed to protect public health and safety, as determined at the sole discretion of the officers and departments named in AMC 10.18.040.040.
  • Applying potable water to a food source between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. through drip irrigation or a hand-held hose with a self-closing water shut-off device. AMC 10.18.020.040 places this outside the mandatory provisions of sections 10.18.080, 10.18.090 and 10.18.100.
  • Decorative water features currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places where water use is needed for the integrity of the feature, or a water feature issued a waiver by the city.
  • Commercial car washing facilities are outside the hand-held bucket or self-closing nozzle rule for washing vehicles.
  • At Level 3, customers may apply for a waiver to irrigate during an establishment period for newly installed turf or hydroseed. Level 4 revokes previously granted establishment-period waivers.

Fines and enforcement

  1. No dollar amount for an outdoor watering violation appears anywhere in the current Chapter 10.18. The chapter sets only the enforcement route, and the amounts sit in other instruments.
  2. Misdemeanor route, confirmed dollar figure: AMC 10.18.140.020 makes a willful violation of any mandatory provision of the chapter a misdemeanor, punishable as authorized by AMC 1.01.370. Section 1.01.370 sets "a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the City or County Jail for a period not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment." Each day of a continuing violation is a separate offense.
  3. Civil citation route, amount NOT published in the code: AMC 10.18.140.030 subjects any violation of the chapter to civil fines under AMC Chapter 1.20. AMC 1.20.070.010 states only that "The amount of the fines for violating particular provisions of this Code shall be as set forth in a schedule of fines adopted by resolution of the City Council of the City. The schedule may include escalating fine amounts for repeat violations occurring within specified periods of time." I could not locate that City Council fine schedule resolution on the city's site, so no civil dollar figure is reported here rather than guessed.
  4. Civil fines are due on the date the citation is issued. Interest or a late payment penalty may be added for fines not paid within thirty (30) days of the due date, if the fine schedule resolution specifies them.
  5. A person receiving a civil citation may contest it by filing a request for administrative review within thirty (30) days of the citation date, accompanied by a deposit of the full fine or an application to waive that deposit on financial hardship grounds.
  6. Paying a civil fine does not excuse correcting the violation, and does not bar further citations or other enforcement action.
  7. AMC 10.18.140.040 also lets the city seek injunctive relief in Superior Court. AMC 10.18.150 preserves the Department's separate right to discontinue service.
  8. Practical note: because Anaheim assigns no watering days at present, there is no watering day violation to fine. The permanent water waste prohibitions in AMC 10.18.130 are the provisions actually enforceable today.

Report water waste: Anaheim Anytime, the city's service request app and web portal, or call 311 at 714-765-4311 to report excessive water waste anonymously. The Water Conservation FAQ instructs in capitals: "PLEASE MAKE SURE TO PROVIDE EXACT ADDRESS LOCATION AND IDENTIFY WATER WASTE ISSUE." The city's Save Water page gives Anaheim Public Utilities at 714-765-4250 for direct contact. Anaheim Public Utilities also lists responding to water waste reports as one of its standing conservation activities, and the 2025 WSCP includes "Increase Water Waste Patrols" as a Level 2 response action.

Is this your water supplier?

Anaheim Public Utilities is the retail water supplier for the City of Anaheim, and AMC 10.18.020.010 extends the chapter to customers served outside the city limits as well. Its wholesale and basin partners are the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MET) for imported water and the Orange County Water District (OCWD) for the groundwater basin, and the 2025 WSCP commits Anaheim to coordinate with MET's own shortage plan. The adjoining agencies Anaheim itself named are recorded in the WSCP adoption resolution, which notes that public hearing notice was "provided to the County of Orange, the City of Stanton, the City of Placentia, the City of Buena Park, and the City of Fullerton on March 30, 2026". Other retail suppliers bordering Anaheim, including Garden Grove, Orange, Santa Ana, Cypress, La Palma, Villa Park and Yorba Linda Water District, set their own schedules; I did not read their pages, so nothing here describes their rules. This matters because neighboring suppliers can sit at different shortage levels at the same time, so an address a block outside Anaheim may face mandatory watering days while Anaheim itself has none.

Questions people ask

What are the watering rules in Anaheim right now?
Nothing about watering days is enforceable. Anaheim is at Water Reduction Plan 1, also printed as WSCP Level 1, Conservation Awareness, up to a 10% demand reduction, and Table 5 of the plan marks that level "(Voluntary)". City Council moved Anaheim down from Plan 2 to Plan 1 on July 18, 2023, and the city writes: "Anaheim does not currently have any mandatory irrigation restrictions in place." Level 1 contains only encouraged hours and encouraged run times, and each of those rows carries "No" in the plan's own enforcement column.
Didn't Anaheim limit watering to three days a week?
It did, and that rule is gone. The city states: "Eased restrictions mean that it is no longer required to only irrigate 3 days per week." The pre-2026 Chapter 10.18 that carried Water Reduction Plans I through IV, including the Ordinance 6332 history from May 19, 2015, was replaced in full by Ordinance 6626 on June 9, 2026, and every section of the current chapter now ends with that citation. Three days per week still exists as standby text at Level 2, but Anaheim is not at Level 2.
What hours should sprinklers run?
There is no enforceable hour window at Level 1. The plan says only to "Encourage customers to limit the application of potable water to outdoor ornamental landscaping or turf to the hours between six (6) p.m. and nine (9) a.m., except as necessary for irrigation system maintenance and repairs", and the enforcement column for that row reads "No". The city's FAQ separately encourages watering in the evening and early morning hours. The same 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. window becomes mandatory at Level 2, where the enforcement column reads "Yes".
How long can each station run, and is there a drip irrigation limit?
The run times are encouragement, not a cap you can be cited for. The plan encourages no more than eight (8) minutes per station for non-conserving nozzles, with spray head sprinklers and bubblers given as the examples, and no more than fifteen (15) minutes per cycle with up to two (2) cycles per permitted watering day per station for high efficiency sprinkler nozzles. There is no drip irrigation figure at any level: the word drip does not appear once in the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan. Any per-station drip number attributed to Anaheim comes from repealed pre-2026 text.
What would apply if Anaheim declared a higher shortage level?
Level 2 makes watering mandatory on no more than three (3) days per week: Monday, Wednesday or Saturday for odd-numbered street addresses, and Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday for even-numbered street addresses, with addresses ending in 1/2 or any fraction following the last whole number. Level 3 cuts that to two (2) days per week, Tuesday or Saturday for odd addresses and Thursday or Sunday for even addresses, and Level 4 caps use at one (1) day per week while printing those same four day names. At Levels 5 and 6 all irrigation is prohibited, and Level 6 also lets the city shut off all non-essential water services. The plan does not restate the 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. hours window or the minute limits at Level 3 or Level 4, and it never says the levels stack, so the text does not settle whether those still apply at those levels.
Is anything exempt, and what is still enforceable today?
With no watering days assigned, there is no watering day to be excepted from; the exemptions matter only if the city declares Level 2 or higher. Those exceptions include spot watering with a hand-held hose to maintain trees or plants other than turf, irrigation system maintenance or repairs, recycled water, which AMC 10.18.020.030 places outside the chapter entirely, and applying potable water to a food source between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. through drip irrigation or a hand-held hose with a self-closing water shut-off device. A Large Landscape Area of at least three (3) acres can hold an Alternative Compliance Plan approved by the APU General Manager or designee under AMC 10.18.100, and that approval can only change or increase the designated watering days, nothing else. What is actually enforceable now is the set of permanent water conservation requirements in AMC 10.18.130, and the city notes that while Water Reduction Plan 1 only requires voluntary restrictions the State still prohibits various water waste practices.
What are the fines for a watering violation in Anaheim?
No dollar amount for an outdoor watering violation appears anywhere in the current Chapter 10.18, and because no watering days are assigned, there is no watering day violation to fine. AMC 10.18.140.020 makes a willful violation of any mandatory provision a misdemeanor punishable under AMC 1.01.370 by "a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the City or County Jail for a period not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment", with each day of a continuing violation a separate offense. AMC 10.18.140.030 also allows civil citations under AMC Chapter 1.20, but the amounts sit in a schedule of fines adopted by resolution of the City Council that is not printed in the code, so no civil dollar figure is reported here. A civil citation can be contested by filing a request for administrative review within thirty (30) days of the citation date, with a deposit of the full fine or a hardship waiver application.
Is Anaheim Public Utilities my water supplier?
Anaheim Public Utilities is the retail water supplier for the City of Anaheim, and AMC 10.18.020.010 extends the chapter to customers served outside the city limits as well. Its imported water comes from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and its groundwater from the Orange County Water District. When Anaheim noticed the hearing on its 2025 plan on March 30, 2026, it notified the County of Orange and the cities of Stanton, Placentia, Buena Park and Fullerton. Other retail suppliers border Anaheim, including Garden Grove, Orange, Santa Ana, Cypress, La Palma, Villa Park and Yorba Linda Water District, and each sets its own schedule, so an address a block outside Anaheim can face mandatory watering days while Anaheim has none. Check the supplier named on your water bill.
How do I report water waste in Anaheim?
Use Anaheim Anytime, the city's service request app and web portal, or call 311 at 714-765-4311 to report excessive water waste anonymously. The city's instruction is in capitals: "PLEASE MAKE SURE TO PROVIDE EXACT ADDRESS LOCATION AND IDENTIFY WATER WASTE ISSUE." Anaheim Public Utilities can also be reached directly at 714-765-4250, and it lists responding to water waste reports as one of its standing conservation activities. Increased water waste patrols are a Level 2 response action in the 2025 plan, not something in force at Level 1.

Sources

WateringTimes is an informational gardening and landscape reference for California. Watering numbers are estimates computed from public state data. Nothing on this site is regulatory or professional advice of any kind. Check your water supplier’s current rules before relying on any schedule.