Watering restrictions and trees: what Austin, Denver and Las Vegas say

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. Watering rules are set by each water utility and change with drought stage, so every line below is what the utility's page said on October 9, 2026 and nothing more. For what extension services say about how new trees are watered, see the staking and watering guide. This page is only about whether a restriction schedule applies to trees.

The three utilities side by side

Utility and stage named on its page	Where trees sit in the schedule	Other limits the page prints
Austin Water, Texas: Conservation Stage restrictions, in force since September 2, 2025	An exemptions list allows watering trees with a tree watering device (named by brand on the page), a soaker hose or an automatic tree bubbler at any time on any day. Hand-held hose or refillable container watering is on the same list.	Residential hose-end sprinklers and drip irrigation are limited to two days a week, midnight to 10 a.m. or 7 p.m. to midnight. Automatic and manual irrigation systems get one day a week in the same hours.
Denver Water, Colorado: Stage 1 drought, amended August 26, 2026	The news item lists trees, shrubs and perennials as watered any day with a hand-held hose with a shutoff nozzle or low-volume, non-spray irrigation such as a drip system, and not by spray irrigation.	Lawn watering and all spray irrigation are prohibited from October 1, 2026. Two assigned days a week applied through September 30.
Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nevada: water waste rules	No line names trees. The page lists hand watering as exempt any day and time if water does not spray or flow off the property, and drip and bubbler systems as exempt any day but not beyond the maximum watering frequency.	Water waste is a violation of the district's service rules, and the district may add a water waste fee to the bill if a violation continues.

Austin

The Austin Water page sets different schedules by customer type and then lists activities allowed at any time on any day: hand watering, tree watering with the devices above, vegetable gardens on a soaker hose or drip, watering to protect public health, safety or welfare, reclaimed water, athletic fields, nursery plants and commercially applied herbicide or pesticide. Case-by-case variances are listed for new xeriscape, large property, environmental, health and safety, income, medical and disability, and one titled tree disease and pest control, described as a variance to treat a tree for disease or control pests.

Denver

Denver Water's August 26, 2026 news item says the Board of Water Commissioners amended its Stage 1 drought resolution to end lawn watering on October 1 and that hand watering for trees and gardens is allowed. The utility says customers had been using more water on their permitted days to keep trees, shrubs and landscapes alive. The rules page lists a charge of US$500 for a first single-family violation of the lawn and spray irrigation ban, US$1,000 for a second, and US$1,000 plus suspension of service after that. A separate Denver Water page says the utility no longer issues watering establishment permits as of October 1, 2026, except for customers with a lead replacement, mainline pipe replacement or certificate of occupancy project.

Las Vegas Valley

The district's water waste page lists exemptions from its restrictions. Hand watering and drip or bubbler systems are among them, with the conditions above. The page does not mention trees by name, so whether a tree irrigation line counts as drip depends on how the district reads its own rule, which this page does not report.

What the pages do not say

None of the three utilities gives a number of gallons or minutes for a tree. Austin and Denver name tree watering in the exemption wording, and Las Vegas does not. Other utilities, in other countries and in other drought stages, may word this differently. Utilities in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were not read for this page.