Overview
- The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Modified Phase III order, which begins Friday, April 3, runs through July 1 across all of Citrus, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota and Sumter counties, plus parts of Charlotte, Highlands and Lake.
- Residents may water lawns only one assigned day per week during 12:01 a.m. to 4 a.m. or 8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., with lots under one acre limited to a single time window.
- The rules cover everyone, including private well users, and homeowners associations cannot penalize brown lawns when residents follow the schedule.
- City and county governments will enforce the order, and Tampa is offering free outdoor water-saving kits with shutoff nozzles that residents can request online.
- Because lawn irrigation can account for about half of a home’s water use, the order also tightens other outdoor uses by limiting low-volume plant watering to cooler hours, allowing home car washing only on your watering day with a shutoff nozzle, and requiring restaurants to serve water only on request.