Nevada HOA Water Conservation

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

Nevada limits an association's authority over water-efficient landscaping through the Nevada Common Interest Ownership Act, NRS Chapter 116, and principally through NRS 116.330, which bars an executive board and the governing documents from prohibiting a unit owner from installing or maintaining drought-tolerant landscaping in the areas the owner occupies exclusively, including the front and back yard.¹ Separately, Assembly Bill 356, 2021, imposes a regional nonfunctional-turf removal mandate inside the Southern Nevada Water Authority service area, a measure distinct from the NRS 116.330 homeowner protection.¹¹ Nevada is the nation's driest state, with statewide annual average precipitation of only 10.2 inches, 1895 to 2020, per NOAA, and its supply is shaped by the Colorado River and the Lake Mead shortage, which explains its water-conscious policy climate but doesn't itself govern association landscaping authority.⁷ AB 356 is a landmark, water-supplier-driven turf mandate that reaches HOA common areas and streetscapes; it isn't a statewide rule and not a homeowner protection against association rules.¹¹ Nevada's prior-appropriation water-rights system, administered by the Office of the State Engineer, is a separate body of law from the NRS 116.330 HOA-authority rule and shouldn't be conflated with it.⁷ Nevada is a prominent protective state on this topic, alongside California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, and Utah, and it stands in contrast to silent, CC&R-governed states.¹¹ What follows sets out the statutory protection, the AB 356 mandate, the water-supply background, and where owner-facing water rules actually originate.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

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

NRS 116.330 provides that the executive board shall not, and the governing documents must not, prohibit a unit owner from installing or maintaining drought-tolerant landscaping within the physical portion of the community the owner has a right to occupy and use exclusively, including the front yard or back yard.¹ The statute sets two conditions: the owner must first submit a detailed description or plans for architectural review and approval in accordance with the procedures in the governing documents, and the landscaping must be selected or designed, to the maximum extent practicable, to be compatible with the style of the community.¹ Critically, the statute directs that these provisions be construed liberally in favor of encouraging drought-tolerant landscaping, and that the board and the governing documents must not unreasonably deny or withhold approval or unreasonably determine that the landscaping is incompatible.¹ NRS 116.330(3) defines "drought tolerant landscaping" as landscaping that conserves water, protects the environment, and is adaptable to local conditions, and states that the term includes, without limitation, mulches such as decorative rock and artificial turf.¹ This definition is what extends the protection to xeriscape, native and low-water plantings, decorative rock, and artificial turf.¹

NRS 116.330 operates as a mandatory limit on association authority. Under NRS 116.1104, except as expressly provided in the chapter, its provisions may not be varied by agreement and rights conferred by it may not be waived.⁵ NRS 116.1206 provides that a governing-document provision that violates the chapter is deemed to conform to the chapter by operation of law.⁶ A recorded covenant that flatly prohibits xeriscape or compels living turf therefore conflicts with NRS 116.330 and is unenforceable to the extent of the conflict, subject to the reasonable conditions the statute preserves.⁵

What the association retains is meaningful. The owner must still go through architectural review, and the association may still apply reasonable aesthetic and design standards, such as plant-palette, rock-color, and hardscape criteria, so long as those standards don't amount to a prohibition and aren't applied to unreasonably deny approval.¹ NRS 116.31065 separately requires that association rules be reasonable, clear, consistent with the governing documents, and uniformly enforced.¹²

Assembly Bill 356, enacted in the 2021 session and approved by the Governor as Chapter 364, is a separate measure.¹⁰ Its operative provision bars the waters of the Colorado River distributed by the SNWA or its member agencies from being used to irrigate nonfunctional turf on any property that is not zoned exclusively for a single-family residence, on and after January 1, 2027.¹¹ It directs the SNWA Board of Directors to define functional and nonfunctional turf and to develop a plan to identify and facilitate removal of nonfunctional turf within the SNWA service area before December 31, 2026, in phases, and it created a Nonfunctional Turf Removal Advisory Committee.¹¹ The SNWA estimates the mandate will remove roughly 3,900 to 4,000 acres of nonfunctional grass, about 30 percent of the grass in the Las Vegas Valley, saving on the order of 9 to 10 billion gallons annually.¹¹ The 2023 Legislature amended the underlying framework through AB 220.¹³ AB 356 is a regional water-supplier mandate tied to Colorado River water in the SNWA service area, the Las Vegas Valley, and it reaches ornamental grass in commercial, multifamily, government, and HOA common-area and streetscape settings; it doesn't apply to grass at single-family residences, and it isn't an individual-owner landscaping protection.¹¹ It shouldn't be described as a statewide rule.¹⁴

2B. Water supply, drought response, rainwater and graywater

As background only: Nevada allocates water under the prior-appropriation doctrine, administered by the Nevada Division of Water Resources, the Office of the State Engineer.⁷ Nevada is the driest state, and its supply is shaped by the Colorado River and the ongoing Lake Mead shortage; Lake Mead supplies roughly 90 percent of Southern Nevada's water.⁷ This body of water-allocation law doesn't govern whether an association may restrict a homeowner's landscaping, which is the province of NRS 116.330.¹

The AB 356 nonfunctional-turf mandate and the mandatory watering schedules administered by the SNWA and the Las Vegas Valley Water District reach HOA common areas and streetscapes as water-supplier measures.¹⁴ In the south, the SNWA's mandatory summer schedule, in effect May 1 through August 31, prohibits sprinkler irrigation between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., prohibits Sunday sprinkler use, and warns that watering during prohibited hours could result in a water-waste fine.⁴ These are utility and regional-authority rules, not the NRS 116.330 statute.⁴

Rainwater harvesting is permitted on a limited basis. Following AB 138, 2017, NRS 533.027 allows the de minimis collection of precipitation from the rooftop of a single-family dwelling for non-potable domestic use.² NRS Chapter 116 contains no provision addressing rainwater collection by owners in a common-interest community, so whether a rain barrel may be placed and where remains a matter for the CC&Rs and architectural review rather than a statutory HOA-authority rule.²

Graywater is regulated as a system, not as an owner right against an association. Under NAC 444.837, graywater may be used for underground irrigation only, and a permit is required to construct, alter, or install a graywater system.³ NRS Chapter 116 contains no provision limiting association authority over graywater systems, so an owner seeking to install one must satisfy both the plumbing and health regulation and the association's architectural process.³

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

Even with NRS 116.330 in force, the recorded declaration and the association's architectural-control process remain central, but they operate only within the statutory limits.¹ A rule or covenant that unreasonably prohibits water-efficient landscaping is unenforceable, while reasonable design standards survive.¹ The order of precedence runs: the mandatory NRS 116 protections first, including NRS 116.330; then the declaration and architectural standards to the extent consistent with the statute; then the association's rules and bylaws.⁵ AB 356 operates as an overlay in the SNWA service area, independent of the association's documents.¹¹

For associations organized as nonprofit corporations, NRS Chapter 82 governs the corporate form, including formation and board authority, but only at the corporate level and not the landscaping question.¹⁵ The practical source of any owner-facing water-use rule is the local water provider. In the south, the Las Vegas Valley Water District and the SNWA set the mandatory watering schedule and the Water Smart Landscapes turf-conversion rebate, paying, as of a 2021 report, $3 per square foot of turf converted to desert landscaping, along with the AB 356 turf mandate.⁴ In the Reno area, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority sets an assigned-day watering schedule based on street-address parity: even-numbered addresses water Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, odd-numbered addresses water Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, with Monday designated a system rest day and sprinkler use banned noon to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day.⁸ These operate independently of the HOA framework. The operational takeaway is that a Nevada manager must read NRS 116.330, the declaration, and the local water provider's rules together, must account for the AB 356 turf mandate inside the SNWA service area, and may not enforce a covenant that NRS 116 overrides.⁵

Section 3: What the framework requires of HOAs

A. Landscaping approval and architectural review

An association must permit a unit owner to install or maintain drought-tolerant landscaping in exclusive-use areas and may not prohibit it, under NRS 116.330. This is a mandatory limit that the declaration cannot override; a conflicting covenant is unenforceable to the extent of the conflict, NRS 116.1104.¹ The owner must submit plans for architectural review and the design must be compatible with community style, but approval may not be unreasonably withheld. Reasonable aesthetic and design standards remain permitted.¹ The recorded declaration and architectural guidelines continue to govern landscaping details not amounting to a prohibition, subject to NRS 116.330 and the rule-quality standard of NRS 116.31065.¹²

B. Drought response and watering restrictions

Inside the SNWA service area, Colorado River water may not irrigate nonfunctional turf on non-single-family property on and after January 1, 2027, reaching HOA common areas and streetscapes. This isn't an HOA-landscaping provision; it's a removal requirement on common areas.¹¹ Mandatory watering schedules, including assigned days, the summer daytime irrigation ban, and no-Sunday sprinkler rules, are set by the water provider — SNWA/LVVWD and TMWA — operating independently of the association's documents.⁴ NRS Chapter 116 doesn't contain a standalone provision suspending HOA landscaping enforcement during a declared drought; the practical protection derives from the NRS 116.330 conversion right.¹

C. Rule adoption and disclosure

Association rules must be reasonable, clearly written, consistent with the governing documents, and uniformly enforced, under NRS 116.31065.¹² An association may impose fines for governing-document violations only if it follows the notice-and-hearing process and statutory limits, NRS 116.31031; a fine enforcing a covenant that NRS 116.330 overrides isn't sustainable.¹⁶ Association powers to adopt and enforce rules are granted subject to statutory limitations, NRS 116.3102.¹⁷

D. Enforcement limits and conflicts

A governing-document provision that violates the chapter is deemed to conform to the chapter by operation of law, NRS 116.1206, so a covenant conflicting with NRS 116.330 cannot be enforced as written.⁶ Chapter 116 provisions may not be varied by agreement or waived, NRS 116.1104, which fixes NRS 116.330 as a floor of owner protection the declaration cannot lower.⁵ The AB 356 mandate can compel removal of nonfunctional turf in HOA common areas within the SNWA service area regardless of what the declaration says.¹¹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Assembly Bill 356 remains the foundational enactment; Senate Bill 121, 2025, is the most recent measure to touch HOA landscaping timelines.

No other bill from the July 2024 to July 2026 window turned up that creates or alters HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping, artificial turf, or turf removal.

B. Recent rulings

No qualifying published or unpublished opinion from the Supreme Court of Nevada or the Nevada Court of Appeals construing NRS 116.330 or ruling on association authority over water-efficient landscaping, xeriscape, or artificial turf turned up.¹⁸ Trial-level disputes proceed through the Nevada District Courts, and most common-interest-community disputes route first through the Real Estate Division's Ombudsman and mandatory alternative dispute resolution, which reduces the volume reaching the appellate courts.¹⁹ Nevada's Court of Appeals operates under a push-down, deflective, model in which the Supreme Court of Nevada assigns cases to it, and final review rests with the Supreme Court of Nevada.¹⁸

C. Active legislative debates

The Nevada Legislature meets in odd-numbered years, so the next regular session is in 2027; the vetoed SB 121 landscaping-timeline provisions are the most likely water-adjacent HOA measure to return.⁹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Nevada sits in the first cluster of a water-conservation-specific grouping: drought-exposed states with statutory owner protections bearing on water-efficient landscaping, of which Nevada is a prominent example, alongside California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, and Utah, and Nevada is the first state to mandate nonfunctional-turf removal, a step described by observers as the most aggressive municipal water-conservation measure taken in the western United States.¹¹ A second cluster comprises states with partial or emerging provisions, and a third comprises silent, CC&R-governed states where only the declaration and architectural review apply.¹ Nevada's distinctive posture is a single unified NRS Chapter 116 with a water-efficient-landscaping protection at NRS 116.330, paired with the regional AB 356 turf-removal mandate in the Las Vegas Valley, which is stronger and more directive than the architectural-review-plus-declaration posture of a silent state.¹¹ For a multi-state operator entering Nevada from a silent state, the practical implication is that assumptions about covenant-based control of landscaping don't hold: NRS 116.330 constrains the association directly, and AB 356 can compel turf removal in common areas.¹¹

HOA Weekly's Nevada water-conservation coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Nevada courts act and as the AB 356 turf-removal deadline approaches. Nevada operators must apply NRS 116.330, account for the AB 356 turf mandate in the SNWA service area, and read the declaration and local water provider's rules together. Federal frameworks apply to Nevada 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. NRS 116.330, Right of units' owners to install or maintain drought tolerant landscaping, Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116 (Nevada Legislature) ↩
2. Schroeder Law Offices summary of AB 138 (2017) and NRS 533.027 (de minimis rooftop rainwater collection); cross-verify at leg.state.nv.us NRS 533.027 ↩
3. Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Individual Sewage Disposal Systems FAQs (NAC 444.837, graywater for underground irrigation, permit required) ↩
4. Southern Nevada Water Authority, mandatory seasonal watering schedule (summer 11 a.m.–7 p.m. and Sunday prohibitions); Las Vegas Valley Water District, "Find Your Watering Days & Group," lvvwd.com; Water Smart Landscapes rebate ↩
5. NRS 116.1104, Provisions of chapter may not be varied by agreement, waived or evaded; exceptions (Nevada Legislature) ↩
6. NRS 116.1206, Provisions of governing documents in violation of chapter deemed to conform with chapter by operation of law (Nevada Legislature) ↩
7. Nevada Division of Water Resources (Office of the State Engineer), prior-appropriation administration; Nevada driest-state precipitation figure per NOAA/NCEI Nevada State Climate Summary 2022; Lake Mead supply share per Las Vegas Review-Journal ↩
8. Truckee Meadows Water Authority, "Assigned Day Watering" (even/odd address schedule, Monday rest day, noon–6 p.m. limit) ↩
9. Senate Bill 121, 83rd Session (2025), Section 1 (backyard landscaping timelines); vetoed by Governor Lombardo (Nevada Legislature) ↩
10. Assembly Bill 356, 81st Session (2021), Overview page (Nevada Legislature NELIS) ↩
11. Assembly Bill 356 (2021), enrolled text, Section 39 (nonfunctional-turf prohibition, SNWA removal plan, Advisory Committee); scope confirmed via SNWA, "Understand Laws & Ordinances," snwa.com ↩
12. NRS 116.31065, Rules (reasonable, clear, consistent, uniformly enforced) (Nevada Legislature) ↩
13. Assembly Bill 220, 82nd Session (2023), enrolled text, revising provisions relating to water conservation (Nevada Legislature) ↩
14. Southern Nevada Water Authority, "Understand Laws & Ordinances" (scope of AB 356 nonfunctional-turf law) ↩
15. NRS Chapter 82, Nonprofit Corporations (Nevada Legislature) ↩
16. NRS 116.31031, Power of executive board to impose fines; procedural requirements and limitations (Nevada Legislature) ↩
17. NRS 116.3102, Powers of unit-owners' association; limitations (Nevada Legislature) ↩
18. Nevada Judiciary, About the Court of Appeals (push-down/deflective model); no qualifying appellate opinion construing NRS 116.330 identified on nvcourts.gov ↩
19. NRS 38.300 to 38.360, mandatory alternative dispute resolution for common-interest-community disputes (Nevada Legislature) ↩