Fixtures: Rules in Phoenix-Area Cities

Enough hand sinks that one is within approximately 25 feet of every workstation, prep and service area, bar, wait station, ice machine and ware washing area, with no door in the way. A splash guard is required within 24 inches of food contact or dish surfaces. A service (mop) sink is also required.

Under its 2024 amendments, Phoenix caps toilets at 1.28 gallons per flush, urinals at 0.5, private lavatory and sink faucets at 1.5 gpm and showerheads at 2.0 gpm. Buildings that meet exceptions 6 through 12 in the IPC and UPC, such as care facilities, tall buildings and some apartment buildings, use a second table with higher limits.

Scottsdale Revised Code Sec. 31-83 adds two commercial fixture rules to the 2021 IPC. Every drinking fountain needs a water dispenser (bottle filler) built in or installed next to it. And where waterless urinals go in, every urinal rough-in still gets a water supply. Both apply to new work permitted under the IPC.

Mesa's Table 604.4 caps a public non-metering lavatory at 0.5 gpm, a private lavatory and a sink faucet at 1.5 gpm, a shower head at 2.0 gpm at 80 psi, a urinal at 0.5 gallon per flush and a water closet at 1.28 gallons per flush. Plans are checked against these numbers.

Yes, in most occupancies. Chandler City Code 29-4.3 lets a water dispenser connected to the potable water system stand in for the first required drinking fountain, and a dispenser can replace not more than 50 percent of the required fountains. It does not change the accessible-fountain rules under the ADA.

In new commercial, industrial and public buildings, and when replacing fixtures in existing ones, Glendale allows only lavatory faucets that close automatically after one quart, 2.0 gpm shower heads, 1.28 gallon toilets and 0.5 gallon urinals with no timed flushing. A violation carries a civil penalty of up to $100, then up to $250 for a second or later one.

In Surprise, a building with an occupant load of 50 or fewer needs no drinking fountain, where the model code stops at 15. Restaurants that give free water in a cup need none. Everywhere else fountains are required, Surprise lets bottled water dispensers or water coolers stand in, and it struck the model code's 50 percent cap on that swap.