Indiana HOA Water Conservation

Section 1: Overview — How water conservation interacts with HOA authority in Indiana

Indiana has no statute limiting a homeowners association's authority over water-efficient landscaping. Neither the Indiana Homeowners Associations Act, IC 32-25.5, which governs non-condominium planned communities, nor the Indiana Condominium Act, IC 32-25, contains any provision addressing drought-tolerant or xeriscape landscaping, native or low-water plantings, artificial turf, water-efficient irrigation, rainwater harvesting, or graywater reuse.¹ What governs instead is the recorded declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions and the association's architectural-control provisions, supplemented by the general framework of the Condominium Act for condominiums and the Homeowners Associations Act for planned communities, with entity formalities supplied by the Indiana Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1991 for associations organized as nonprofits.² Separately, Indiana water-resource law — the riparian doctrine and the regulated-withdrawal system the Department of Natural Resources administers under IC 14-25 — governs who may withdraw water and how much. It doesn't bear on whether an association may require a green lawn or forbid replacing turf with gravel or drought-tolerant plantings.⁸ Nationally, Indiana sits among the silent, CC&R-governed states, unlike drought-exposed jurisdictions such as California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, and Florida, which have enacted statutes limiting HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping.¹⁰ What follows details the statutory framework, where water rules actually live, what the framework requires of associations, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. Statutory limits on HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping

Review the Indiana Code, and no provision restricts an association's authority over drought-tolerant or xeriscape landscaping, native or low-water plantings, artificial turf, or water-efficient irrigation. The Homeowners Associations Act at IC 32-25.5 organizes into chapters covering applicability, definitions, association operations, Attorney General actions, and grievance resolution, together with narrow subject-specific carve-outs added over time: solar energy systems, IC 32-25.5-3.5, beekeeping, IC 32-25.5-3.7, and, effective July 1, 2026, outdoor equipment and fuel-source, IC 32-25.5-3.6, amateur radio antennas, IC 32-25.5-3.8, and child care homes, IC 32-25.5-3.9.³ None addresses landscaping water use. The Condominium Act at IC 32-25 similarly runs from application of law through definitions, classification, ownership, conveyance, liens, the declaration, administration, grievance resolution, and actions and proceedings, with no water-conservation or landscaping-choice provision anywhere in the article.² This is where such a provision would appear if the legislature enacted one, so its absence is a positive finding, not a gap in research. States that have chosen to legislate on the point do so explicitly. Colorado, at Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i) as amended by SB 23-178 (2023), bars associations from prohibiting "the use of xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes" and requires HOAs to develop at least three preapproved garden designs.¹⁰ Florida limits HOA restrictions on Florida-friendly landscaping under Fla. Stat. 373.185.¹⁰ California, at Cal. Civ. Code § 4735(a), makes a governing-document provision "void and unenforceable" if it "(1) Prohibits, or includes conditions that have the effect of prohibiting, the use of low water-using plants as a group or as a replacement of existing turf. (2) Prohibits ... the use of artificial turf," and § 4735(c) bars fines "for reducing or eliminating the watering of vegetation or lawns" during a declared drought emergency.¹¹ Texas, at Tex. Prop. Code § 202.007(a), voids any provision that prohibits "using drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf," and at § 202.007(d-1) provides that an association "may not unreasonably deny or withhold approval of a proposed installation of drought-resistant landscaping."¹² Indiana has adopted no equivalent, and none of those out-of-state provisions applies to Indiana associations.

2B. Related water law, drought response, rainwater and graywater

Indiana water-resource law is background context, and it doesn't constrain or empower HOA landscaping authority. The state follows the riparian doctrine for surface water, with a regulated-withdrawal overlay under IC 14-25 the Department of Natural Resources administers, and manages groundwater under reasonable-use principles; this body of law allocates the right to withdraw water and doesn't speak to landscaping covenants.⁸ On drought response, the DNR maintains the Indiana Water Shortage Plan, a coordination and response framework keyed to climate divisions and drought indicators; the Water Shortage Task Force that once administered it was abolished in 2012 with the repeal of IC 14-25-14.⁶ The plan operates at the level of state resource management and doesn't reach private landscaping enforcement or suspend HOA enforcement against dormant or unwatered lawns.¹³ Search for any Indiana statute addressing rainwater harvesting or graywater reuse as against associations, and none turns up. Rainwater collection is lawful and encouraged as a stormwater and conservation practice, with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management publishing guidance on residential rain barrels, but no statute shields rainwater or graywater systems from an association's architectural rules.⁴

2C. Where water-conservation rules actually live in Indiana

Because the statutes are silent, any water-related landscaping rule in an Indiana community originates in the recorded CC&Rs and the association's architectural-control provisions. The Condominium Act supplies the general use-restriction and architectural framework for condominiums, requiring a recorded declaration and bylaws that bind unit owners, and non-condominium planned communities operate under the separate Homeowners Associations Act, which is equally silent on water conservation.² The practical, owner-facing water-use rules come from local water utilities, which operate independently of the HOA framework. Citizens Energy Group, which serves the Indianapolis area, publishes tiered drought-alert guidelines: at the Water Shortage Alert tier it imposes a "Mandatory lawn watering restriction to 2 days per week," and at the Warning tier it moves to "Mandatory restrictions via Water Conservation Ordinance" that ban lawn irrigation, with a further ban on most outdoor water use at the Emergency tier.⁷ Indiana American Water issues conservation guidance to its customers, and Fort Wayne City Utilities administers its own conservation measures.¹⁴ The operational takeaway for a property manager searching for "Indiana HOA water conservation law": the rulebook is the declaration and the local water utility's rules, not any HOA-specific water statute.

Section 3: What the framework requires of HOAs

A. Landscaping approval and architectural review

Landscaping changes, including turf removal, artificial turf, and plant selection, are governed by the recorded declaration and any architectural-review provisions the association adopts under it, with the Condominium Act supplying the enabling architectural and use-restriction framework for condominiums at IC 32-25-7 and IC 32-25-8 — the recorded declaration is mandatory for condominiums, and specific landscaping standards may be set by the declaration.²

B. Drought response and watering restrictions

Outdoor-watering limits that actually bind an owner come from the local water utility, not from the association or the state HOA statutes. In the Citizens Energy Group service territory, mandatory two-day-per-week limits attach at the Water Shortage Alert tier and outdoor-watering bans at the Warning and Emergency tiers under the City's Water Conservation Ordinance.⁷

C. Rule adoption and disclosure

Associations adopt and disclose rules through the declaration, bylaws, and board procedures set by the governing statutes and the Nonprofit Corporation Act. The Homeowners Associations Act imposes record-keeping, notice, and meeting requirements on associations formed after June 30, 2009, under IC 32-25.5-3, and these provisions apply regardless of subject matter — they contain nothing specific to water conservation.¹

D. Enforcement limits and conflicts

Where a CC&R requires a green lawn while a local water utility imposes a mandatory watering restriction, that tension plays out as a contract-versus-local-rule question, resolved under general law rather than any water-conservation statute, because Indiana has none. No Indiana statute forces an association to defer to a municipal watering ordinance or bars enforcement against a brown lawn during a utility restriction; a claim to the contrary circulating on lawn-care websites finds no support in the Indiana Code.¹ Enforcement is also constrained by general covenant law: Indiana courts treat restrictive covenants as contracts, enforce them where unambiguous and not contrary to public policy, and require associations to follow their own procedures.¹⁵

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills (past 24 months)

No qualifying bill turned up. A review of the Indiana General Assembly's 2025 and 2026 sessions found no bill that would create or affect HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping, drought enforcement, rainwater harvesting, or graywater reuse. The 2026 session did enact several HOA measures on unrelated subjects, none touching water conservation: House Bill 1152, Public Law 53-2026, on HOA budget, quorum, fees, and child care homes; House Bill 1115, signed March 12, 2026, on HOA governance, meeting notice, and fee limits; and House Bill 1150, Public Law 26-2026, on restrictions covering fuel-source discrimination for outdoor equipment, American flag display, and automated license plate readers.⁹ These are noted only to confirm that recent HOA legislative activity didn't reach the water-conservation topic.

B. Recent appellate rulings (past 36 months)

No qualifying ruling on water-conservation landscaping turned up. The closest recent appellate decision bearing on HOA architectural-enforcement authority concerned waterfront-lot rights and a dock, not water-conservation landscaping.

C. Active legislative debates

No active Indiana legislative debate specific to HOA water-efficient landscaping, drought enforcement, rainwater harvesting, or graywater exists. Trial-level HOA disputes proceed through the Indiana Circuit and Superior Courts, appeals go to the Indiana Court of Appeals, and discretionary review lies with the Indiana Supreme Court. Indiana has no dedicated HOA regulatory agency; real estate licensing is overseen by the Indiana Real Estate Commission within the Professional Licensing Agency.¹⁷

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

On the water-conservation-specific question, states cluster into three groups. The first has statutes limiting HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping, concentrated in drought-exposed jurisdictions including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and Utah. The second has partial or emerging provisions, where bills have been introduced or narrow protections adopted. The third is silent, CC&R-governed states, including most Great Lakes and Ohio Valley states, Indiana among them, where the declaration and the local water utility supply any applicable rule.¹⁰ For a firm operating across state lines, the practical point is direct: don't assume Colorado's or Florida's xeriscape-protection rules apply in Indiana. Indiana shows no legislative momentum toward such a statute — recent HOA bills addressed budgets, governance, and unrelated carve-outs, not water-efficient landscaping.⁹

HOA Weekly's Indiana water-conservation coverage updates quarterly as the legislature and the courts act. For Indiana communities, the practically controlling water rules are the declaration and the local water utility. Federal frameworks apply to Indiana associations regardless of state law — the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act among them.

Footnotes

1. Indiana Homeowners Associations Act, IC 32-25.5, Indiana General Assembly ↩
2. Indiana Condominium Act, IC 32-25 (including IC 32-25-7 declaration and IC 32-25-8 administration), Indiana General Assembly ↩
3. IC 32-25.5-3.5 (solar energy systems) and IC 32-25.5-3.7 (beekeeping), Indiana General Assembly ↩
4. Community Environmental Health: Rain Barrels, Indiana Department of Environmental Management ↩
5. IC 32-25.5-3-3.5 and IC 32-25-8-6.5 (association distributing water or sewer service not a public utility), Indiana General Assembly ↩
6. Indiana's Water Shortage Plan, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water ↩
7. Guidelines for Drought Alert Conditions, Citizens Energy Group ↩
8. Indiana Code Title 14, Article 25 (water rights and regulated withdrawals), Indiana General Assembly ↩
9. House Bill 1152 (2026), House Bill 1115 (2026), and House Bill 1150 (2026), Indiana General Assembly ↩
10. Colo. Rev. Stat. 38-33.3-106.5, as amended by SB 23-178 (2023); Fla. Stat. 373.185 (out-of-state contrast examples, not Indiana law) ↩
11. Cal. Civ. Code § 4735, California Legislative Information (out-of-state contrast example, not Indiana law) ↩
12. Tex. Prop. Code § 202.007 (out-of-state contrast example, not Indiana law) ↩
13. Drought Information, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water ↩
14. Indiana American Water conservation guidance and Fort Wayne City Utilities ↩
15. Indiana restrictive-covenant enforcement principles, Court of Appeals of Indiana ↩
16. Linda F. Slavick Trust v. Christmas Lake Properties Association, Inc., Opinion 24A-PL-1746 (Ind. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2025), Indiana Courts ↩
17. Indiana Real Estate Commission, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency ↩