Once-a-Week Watering Rule Stays for Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas

BROOKSVILLE, FL -- Residents of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties will need to stay on a once-a-week lawn watering schedule for now.

The board that runs the Southwest Florida Water Management District voted Tuesday (27th) to extend restrictions in those three counties until the end of the year (Dec. 31). The board says that rainfall levels after Tropical Storm/ Hurricane Debby are above average. However, the Tampa Bay area's main reservoir, the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir, is about seven and a half billion gallons below capacity. The board has also approved allowing Tampa Bay Water to start drawing 75 million gallons daily from the Alafia River, instead of 60 million gallons, to help refill the reservoir.

Several cities in the district, including Tampa, Dunedin and Venice, have once-a-week watering by local ordinance. Their restrictions will not change.

These are the district's scheduled days for watering, according to a news release (quoted here):

• If your address (house number) ends in...
  • 0 or 1, water only on Monday
  • 2 or 3, water only on Tuesday
  • 4 or 5, water only on Wednesday
  • 6 or 7, water only on Thursday
  • 8 or 9*, water only on Friday...
  • * and locations without a discernible address
• Unless your city or county already has stricter hours in effect, properties under two acres in size may only water before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m.
• Unless your city or county already has stricter hours in effect, properties two acres or larger may only water before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.
• Low-volume watering of plants and shrubs (micro-irrigation, soaker hoses, hand watering) is allowed any day and any time.

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