You Can Wash Your Car Again — and the City Just Loosened Up on Backyard Water Too

Ridgefield's updated water conservation strategy ditches the home car-washing ban and gives kiddie pools and splash pads some breathing room for summer.

Confession: we didn't even know there was a home car-washing ban in Ridgefield until the City quietly lifted it. Turns out it had been on the books for a while — but as of an update to the City's water conservation strategy, it's gone. If you've been side-eyeing your dusty car in the driveway, good news.

Short version — the ban wasn't doing much. Most people aren't out there with a hose and a bucket of suds during peak water demand hours, so the restriction wasn't actually saving much water. It was mostly just an inconvenience.

And if hand-washing in the driveway isn't your thing anyway, Wash King opened here in town not too long ago — worth a mention since commercial car washes were never restricted in the first place. They run on recycled water, so they were exempt even back when the home ban was in effect.

Why the Car Wash Ban Got Dropped

According to the City, staff reviewed local water use patterns after fielding multiple resident requests to revisit the restriction. What they found: home car washing overwhelmingly happens outside of peak demand windows, meaning it was never putting real strain on the water system in the first place.

It's a small thing, but it's the kind of policy change that's easy to miss if you're not checking the City's NewsFlash page — and exactly the sort of update we like flagging here, since "wait, is that still a rule?" is a very Ridgefield question to have.

New Rules for Pools, Splash Pads, and Other Backyard Water Features

The updated strategy also draws a clearer line between landscape water features (think decorative fountains) and recreational water features — the kiddie pools, splash pads, and inflatable setups that come out every summer. That distinction matters because recreational features now get their own, more generous rules.

Timely, too — the splash pad at Overlook Park downtown opened up this summer, and it's been a hit. On hot days you'll find it packed with kids cooling off, which is exactly the kind of recreational water use the City says it's trying to support with this update.

• 5,000 gallons or smaller, recirculating: You're free to fill it yourself between 10 AM and 7 PM — no calls or approvals needed.
• Larger than 5,000 gallons: You'll need to call the City to coordinate approval and timing before filling.

If you're planning anything bigger than a backyard splash pad — a larger above-ground pool, for instance — it's worth a quick call to the City before you start filling, both to stay within the rules and to avoid any surprise water bill shock.

What Hasn't Changed

This is a loosening of specific restrictions, not a blanket "use as much water as you want" policy. Landscape watering schedules and other parts of the conservation strategy remain in place. If you're unsure whether something on your property counts as a "landscape" feature versus a "recreational" one, that's the kind of question worth a quick call to City Hall rather than a guess.