Northeast Florida Lawn Watering Under the Phase III Water Shortage: 1 Day a Week, No Sprinklers 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Which Day Is Yours

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Northeast Florida lawns are down to one watering day a week, and the clocks changing on Nov. 1 did not change that. The St. Johns River Water Management District's Phase III Extreme Water Shortage declaration, in effect since May 11, 2026, already limited landscape irrigation to a single day in Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties, and the district's latest updates say it remains in place. Here is how the rules work, which day is yours and what still counts as allowed watering.

The Phase III order is stricter than the normal winter schedule in two ways. The usual Eastern Standard Time rules, which run from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March, allow one day a week, with watering banned between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on that day. Under Phase III, the no-watering window stretches from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the one-day limit applies year-round until the district lifts or modifies the order.

Which day is yours

The district assigns days by the last digit of the street address, and the assignments are the same under Phase III as under the normal winter schedule. Odd addresses end in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9, and even addresses end in 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8, according to St. Johns County's Protect Our Water page. Properties with no street number follow the odd-address rule.

On that one day, the district's rules allow no more than three-quarters of an inch of water per zone and no more than one hour per zone, according to the district's watering restrictions page. Watering is prohibited from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. under Phase III, so a typical schedule runs in the early morning or evening. The restrictions apply to private wells and pumps and to ground or surface water, not just utility customers, St. Johns County said in a May 13 release.

What is still allowed

Several kinds of watering are exempt from the day-of-week rule, according to the district and St. Johns County. Hand watering with a hose fitted with an automatic shutoff nozzle is allowed any time. Micro-spray, micro-jet, drip and bubbler irrigation are also allowed any day.

• New landscaping may be watered any day for the first 30 days after installation, then every other day for the next 30 days, under the district's normal rules; the Phase III order further restricts new sod and plantings, and the district's FAQ describes a tighter 15-day, 30-day and 15-day schedule, so check with the district before laying sod.
• Watering in fertilizer or pesticides is allowed within 24 hours of application, up to a quarter inch of water.
• Running a system for repairs or maintenance is allowed for up to 20 minutes per hour per zone.
• Vegetable gardens, sports fields, playgrounds and agricultural crops may be irrigated any day outside the midday ban.
• Reclaimed water is not included in the one-day-a-week schedule, which is why some parks and medians still run sprinklers; Nocatee and SilverLeaf in St. Johns County follow separate reclaimed water schedules.

Automatic irrigation systems installed after May 1991 must have a working rain sensor or shutoff switch, according to the district. St. Johns County also requires an override device such as a rain sensor or soil moisture sensor on automatic systems. A controller that does not know the clocks changed will still run on the old schedule, so the county urged property owners to reset timers after the Nov. 1 time change.

What Phase III restricts beyond lawns

The order reaches past residential sprinklers. Golf course fairway irrigation is limited to one day a week, decorative fountains and other aesthetic water uses are prohibited, and street washing and pressure washing face additional limits, according to the district's July 10 and Aug. 7 updates. Commercial, industrial and institutional users must suspend certain non-essential uses, and the order bans wasteful and unnecessary water use generally.

The declaration covers Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties, plus portions of several other counties in the district, according to St. Johns County's May 13 release, and the district's FAQ lists Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Lake and Marion among the counties partially covered. The county said all of the affected counties were in extreme drought at the time of the order. Regional water managers may add conservation measures if dry conditions continue, the county said.

How dry it still is

The district said on Aug. 7 that the region was nearly 3 feet below normal rainfall and that most of the affected area would need about 28 to 33 inches over three months to end extreme drought conditions. July rainfall was 6.84 inches, but about 5.17 inches of that was lost to evaporation and plant use, leaving little to recharge groundwater. "Recovery is not immediate," Clay Coarsey, the district's director of water supply planning and assessment, said in an Aug. 28 release.

The district's September rainfall summary put the district-wide average at 5.30 inches, 1.44 inches below the 6.74-inch historical average. The district has said restrictions will be modified or lifted only when rainfall, groundwater levels, spring flows and river flows show recovery, and it has not set a date. The district's own figures show an average home uses almost 1,000 gallons per irrigation cycle, so one skipped cycle a week adds up.

How to report a violation

The district runs an Irrigation Hotline at 386-329-4545 and an online overwatering report form, and its water conservation coordinators can be reached at 386-329-4500. In St. Johns County, violations go to Code Enforcement at 904-209-0734 or [email protected], or through the SJC Connect app. Neither the district page nor the county page lists a fine schedule, so residents should check with their own city or county code office for penalties.

Green Cove Springs has posted the Phase III declaration as an active emergency alert on its city website, and St. Johns County Utilities Director Neal Shinkre said in May that small steps such as adjusting irrigation schedules, checking systems for leaks and watering only when needed help protect the aquifer. The district recommends pointing sprinkler heads at landscaped areas rather than streets, sidewalks or driveways. The one-day schedule applies until the district says otherwise, regardless of what the calendar or the clock says.