Florida Water Restrictions: Schedules, Sensors, and Fines

Florida water restrictions limit most homes to two watering days per week from mid-March through early November and one day per week the rest of the year, with no irrigation allowed between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on any day. The rules apply whether your water comes from a utility, a private well, or a pond, and they follow your street address number to decide which specific days you can run your sprinklers. Cities and counties can make the rules tighter than the state baseline, so your local ordinance controls if it’s stricter.

Which Days You Can Water

Your allowed watering days are set by the number on your house, not by preference. The system spreads demand so entire neighborhoods aren’t running sprinklers at once. During Daylight Saving Time (roughly mid-March through early November), residential properties get two days a week under the common schedule:

Odd-numbered addresses: Wednesday and Saturday
Even-numbered addresses, or properties with no address: Thursday and Sunday

When the clocks fall back to Eastern Standard Time in November, that drops to one day a week until mid-March.¹ In the St. Johns River Water Management District, for example, odd addresses water Saturday only and even addresses water Sunday only during the winter schedule.² This seasonal change catches a lot of homeowners. If your timer keeps running its summer program through December, you’re in violation even though nothing about your setup has changed.

Commercial properties, HOA common areas, and other non-residential sites follow the same framework on different days. In much of Central Florida that means Tuesday and Friday during Daylight Saving Time, dropping to Tuesday only during the winter months.¹

Allowed Hours and Run Time

Even on your permitted day, you cannot water between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The blackout window exists because midday irrigation evaporates before it reaches the roots. Early morning and evening are both fine.³

Several districts also cap each irrigation zone at one hour of run time per watering day. That’s usually enough to give a lawn what it needs without oversaturating the soil.²

When You Can Water Off-Schedule

Several types of irrigation sit outside the day-of-week rules, and knowing them can save a struggling plant without risking a citation.

Hand Watering

You can hand water with a hose any day, at any time, as long as the hose has a self-canceling nozzle that shuts off when you release the handle. Someone standing in the yard with a hose uses far less water than an automated system cycling through zones, and the rule reflects that.⁴

Reclaimed Water

If your property receives reclaimed (recycled) water for irrigation, the day and time restrictions do not apply. The South Florida Water Management District’s rule states this explicitly.⁵ Districts still suggest avoiding the midday hours and limiting application to about three-quarters of an inch per week, but those are efficiency guidelines rather than enforceable limits.⁶

Micro-Irrigation and Drip Systems

Low-volume systems, including drip lines, bubblers, micro-sprays, and micro-jets, are generally exempt from the watering-day schedule. The St. Johns River Water Management District allows micro-irrigation at any time.² One caveat: these systems are meant for plant beds and containers, not lawns, and some jurisdictions prohibit using drip on turfgrass.

New Sod and Plantings

Newly installed sod, seed, and plants need more water than an established landscape, so the rules build in a 60-day establishment window. The general framework runs in two stages:

Days 1 through 30: watering allowed any day of the week. The 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. blackout still applies in most districts.
Days 31 through 60: three assigned days per week, usually by address. In the Southwest Florida district, odd addresses water Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday during this phase; even addresses water Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.⁷

After day 60, the property goes back to the standard one- or two-day schedule. Some places handle days 31 through 60 differently; Orange County, for instance, allows watering every other day during that window rather than fixed days.⁸ Keep the nursery receipt or contractor invoice. Code enforcement may ask for proof of your install date before honoring the exemption.

Rain Sensors Are Required by Law

Florida Statutes Section 373.62 requires every automatic irrigation system to have a working device that shuts the system off when the ground has enough moisture. Anyone who purchases and installs an automatic system must install, maintain, and operate rain-sensing or moisture-sensing technology that interrupts the system during periods of sufficient moisture.⁹

For homeowners, the practical rule is simple: if your rain sensor’s battery dies or the unit gets knocked loose, fix or replace it promptly. The statute allows reasonable time for repairs, so a brief malfunction while you’re getting parts won’t produce a citation. Running the system for months with an obviously broken or missing sensor is a different situation.

Drought and Water Shortage Orders

Water management districts can override the standard schedule with temporary shortage orders when drought hits. These orders run in phases from I (mild) through IV (extreme), and they can change quickly. In 2026, the Southwest Florida Water Management District declared a Modified Phase II shortage from February 8 through April 2, then escalated to Modified Phase III “Extreme” restrictions from April 3 through July 1.¹⁰

Under those Phase III rules, watering dropped to one day per week even during Daylight Saving Time, assigned by the last digit of the address (0 or 1 on Monday, 2 or 3 on Tuesday, and so on through Friday). Allowed hours narrowed sharply: properties under one acre could water only between 12:01 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. or between 8:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m., and only in one of those windows. Citations issued without a warning after a 14-day grace period.¹⁰

A schedule that was perfectly legal last week can become a violation overnight. Check your water management district’s website during dry stretches, particularly from late winter into early summer.

Fines for Violations

Local code enforcement officers handle violations, and penalties vary by city and county. Most jurisdictions use an escalating fine model that starts with a warning or a modest fine and climbs with each repeat offense. Hillsborough County charges $100 for a first citation, $200 for a second, and adds $100 per offense up to a $500 cap at the fifth violation and beyond. Going three consecutive years without a violation resets the count to first-offense status.¹¹

Other municipalities start lower or higher, some at $25, some straight to $100. When a shortage order is active, the process speeds up. The Southwest Florida district’s 2026 Phase III order told local officials to skip warnings entirely and cite after the 14-day grace period.¹⁰ Unpaid fines can be added to your utility bill or sent to a Special Magistrate hearing. Treat the first warning as your real deadline to reprogram the timer.

1
Orange County Government Florida. Watering Restrictions
2
St. Johns River Water Management District. Watering Restrictions
3
South Florida Water Management District. Year-Round Landscape Irrigation Conservation Measures
4
South Florida Water Management District. Landscape Watering Restrictions
5
South Florida Water Management District. Chapter 40E-24 Year-Round Landscape Irrigation Conservation Measures
6
South Florida Water Management District. Year-Round Landscape Irrigation Rule FAQs
7
Southwest Florida Water Management District. Modified Phase II Water Shortage Restrictions – Section: New Lawns and Plants
8
Orange County Government Florida. Watering Restrictions – Section: Watering Exception For New Sod/Landscaping
9
Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXVIII Chapter 373 Part VI Section 373-62 – Water Conservation; Automatic Sprinkler Systems
10
Southwest Florida Water Management District. District Declares Modified Phase III Water Shortage
11
Hillsborough County, FL. Water Restrictions Violations and Appeals – Section: Penalties