Last updated:
Last verified: October 6, 2026, against St. Johns River Water Management District.
By the Jacksonville Pro Landscape Team
The St. Johns River Water Management District’s Phase III Extreme Water Shortage declaration remains in effect for portions of Duval County and several neighboring counties. After prolonged dry conditions, landscape irrigation in the covered areas is down to one day a week. Whether the property is in Riverside, San Marco, Mandarin, Ortega, or out on the Southside, here is what the District’s order says for 2026 and how to keep a North Florida lawn healthy on it.
Source: St. Johns River Water Management District. The District’s Phase III Extreme Water Shortage declaration remains in effect, limiting landscape irrigation to one day per week and prohibiting irrigation between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. See sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions.
Under the District’s Phase III order (Water Shortage Order 2026-017), the schedule is simple:
- Odd-numbered street address, or no street address: Saturday
- Even-numbered street address: Sunday
- Nonresidential property: Tuesday
One day, once a week. Irrigation is prohibited between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., so the window is early morning or evening on the assigned day. There is also a volume cap: no more than three-quarters of an inch of water per zone, and no zone running longer than an hour on the scheduled day. If a system’s output is unknown, a simple catch-cup test shows it in twenty minutes, and it is the difference between a legal deep watering and an accidental violation.
Why the weekend schedule matters
The odd-Saturday, even-Sunday split is the District’s Phase III pattern, with nonresidential properties on Tuesday. The limits apply to private wells and pumps, ground or surface water, and water from public and private utilities. Reclaimed water customers should check their own utility’s schedule, which can assign different days and times. Set the controller once, on the right day and outside the prohibited hours, and the rule is covered.
Low-volume irrigation is still the efficient choice for beds. Drip and micro-irrigation for beds, shrubs, and trees use far less water than overhead spray, which suits the parts of the landscape that are not turf. How the Phase III order treats drip is set out in the full order, so confirm it with the District before relying on it.
New plants and sod follow a tapered schedule under the order: every day for the first 15 days after installation, up to three days a week for the next 30 days, and two days a week for the final 15 days. A once-a-week schedule will not establish new St. Augustine in a Florida summer on its own, so an install planned during the order is best delayed until conditions improve, which the District also suggests.
Jacksonville lawns are mostly St. Augustine with some Bahia and zoysia, and our Atlantic-side climate sets the rhythm.
- Spring (Mar to May): the dry season. Mow St. Augustine high, 3.5 to 4 inches, water deep on the assigned day, and hold heavy feeding until rains return.
- Summer (Jun to Sep): afternoon storms do most of the watering. Keep the rain shutoff working, watch for chinch bugs during dry gaps, and mow often enough that you never remove more than a third of the blade.
- Fall (Oct to Nov): recovery season. Patch thin spots, fertilize while the soil is warm, and take on planting and design projects.
- Winter (Dec to Feb): growth crawls and water needs drop to almost nothing. One deep soak on your day when the weather has been dry is plenty.
Sandy Duval County soil drains fast, so cycle-and-soak pays here: split your single watering into two shorter runs so it holds in the root zone. Efficient nozzles and a tuned system stretch the one-hour-per-zone cap further. And moving beds, trees, and the awkward strips onto drip cuts their water use.
Odd waters Saturday, even waters Sunday, nonresidential waters Tuesday, never between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., never more than three-quarters of an inch per zone. Keep the controller honest, use low-volume irrigation for everything that is not grass, and let the summer storms carry the load they always have. The District revisits its orders as conditions change, so check before assuming the rules have eased.
If you would like help dialing a system into the one-day schedule, fixing coverage, or shifting beds to drip, the Jacksonville Pro Landscape Team works with these exact rules every day.
Rules current as of October 6, 2026 under SJRWMD Water Shortage Order 2026-017. Restrictions change with conditions; confirm the active phase at sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions before relying on this schedule.