A. Landscape water meters, defined as either a dedicated water service meter or private submeter, shall be installed for all nonresidential irrigated landscapes of 1,000 square feet but not more than 5,000 square feet (the level at which Water Code 535 applies) and residential irrigated landscapes of 5,000 square feet or greater. A landscape water meter may be either:

B. The irrigation system shall be designed to conform to the hydrozones of the plants specified in the planting plan.

C. The irrigation system shall be designed to prevent runoff, overspray, low head drainage and other similar conditions where irrigation water flows or sprays onto area not intended for irrigation, and use low volume irrigation or mulched areas wherever feasible.

D. Portions of irrigation systems containing slopes greater than 25 percent shall utilize an application rate of 0.75 inches per hour or less to prevent runoff unless the applicant clearly demonstrates that no runoff or erosion will occur. (Prevention of runoff and erosion must be confirmed during the irrigation audit.)

E. Sprinkler heads and other low emission devices shall be selected based on what is appropriate for the plant type in the hydrozone and shall have matched precipitation rates unless otherwise directed by the manufacturer’s recommendations.

F. Sprinkler spacing shall be designed to achieve the highest possible distribution uniformity.

G. Areas less than 10 feet in width in any direction shall be irrigated with subsurface irrigation or other means that produces no runoff or overspray.

H. The system shall provide that only low volume irrigation is used to irrigate any vegetation within 24 inches of an impermeable surface unless the adjacent impermeable surfaces are designed and constructed to cause water to drain entirely into landscaped areas.

I. The irrigation system shall be regulated by means of a smart controller (either evapotranspiration, weather based, soil moisture utilizing nonvolatile memory based or similar).

J. Irrigation projects equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet shall include the installation of a master valve and flow sensor to prevent water waste associated with mainline breaks and other failures.

K. Where feasible, trees shall be placed on separate valves from shrubs, groundcover and turf to facilitate the appropriate irrigation of trees. The mature size and extent of the root zone shall be considered when designing irrigation for the tree.

L. If the water pressure is below or exceeds the recommended pressure of the specified irrigation devices, the installation of a pressure regulating device is required to ensure that the dynamic pressure at each emission device is within the manufacturer’s recommended pressure range for optimal performance.

M. Flow sensors that detect high flow conditions created by system damage or malfunction are required for all nonresidential landscapes and residential landscapes of 5,000 square feet or larger.

N. All irrigation emission devices must meet the requirements set in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’/International Code Council’s (ASABE/ICC) 802-2014 “Landscape Irrigation Sprinkler and Emitter Standard.” All sprinkler heads installed in the landscape must document a distribution uniformity low quarter of 0.65 or higher using the protocol defined in ASABE/ICC 802-2014. (Ord. 3357 § 1, 2015; Ord. 3146 § 1 (Exh. A), 2009).