Jacksonville Water Restriction Laws: Your Watering Day, and the Drought Rule That Overrides It
Share
TL;DR: Jacksonville's landscape irrigation rules come from the St. Johns River Water Management District, adopted locally through Chapter 366 of the Ordinance Code. The baseline schedule is set by whether your address ends in an odd or even number, and by the time of year: two days a week during Daylight Saving Time, one day a week during Eastern Standard Time, with no irrigation between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. year-round. Critically, drought declarations override that baseline. As of May 11, 2026, SJRWMD declared a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage covering Duval County, cutting irrigation to one day per week. Drought status changes, so verify current restrictions before adjusting your system.
The short answers
What day can I water my lawn in Jacksonville?
Under the baseline schedule during Daylight Saving Time: Wednesday and Saturday for odd-numbered addresses, Thursday and Sunday for even-numbered addresses, Tuesday and Friday for nonresidential properties. During Eastern Standard Time it drops to one day: Saturday (odd), Sunday (even), Tuesday (nonresidential). A drought declaration can override all of this.
What counts as an odd or even address?
Odd addresses end in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. Even addresses end in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8. Properties with no address are treated as odd for scheduling purposes.
What hours am I prohibited from watering?
Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. under the baseline rule, year-round. Under the Phase III declaration, reporting described a wider prohibited window of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
How much water am I allowed?
No more than ¾ inch of water per zone per irrigation day, or one hour per zone.
Was Duval County under drought restrictions recently?
Yes. SJRWMD declared a Modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage covering Duval County effective March 2, 2026, then escalated to a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage on May 11, 2026, covering portions of Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Baker, Bradford, Lake, Alachua, and Marion counties.
Do these rules apply to my private well?
Yes. The restrictions apply to water from public and private utilities, private wells and pumps, and ground or surface water sources.
Can my HOA fine me for a brown lawn if I'm following the restrictions?
Reportedly no. Florida Statute 373.185 is described as prohibiting HOAs and local governments from penalizing homeowners who reduce irrigation to comply with water management district restrictions.
This is the most time-sensitive article in this series, and the reason is simple: Jacksonville's watering rules have two layers, a stable baseline and a drought override, and the override was active as recently as May 2026.
For the county-wide frame, see the Duval ordinance guide.
Who actually makes these rules
Landscape irrigation restrictions in Jacksonville don't originate with the city. They come from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), one of five water management districts in Florida, covering 18 counties including Duval, St. Johns, Clay, and Nassau.
Jacksonville adopted them locally. Ordinances 2008-030 and 2009-360 enacted landscape irrigation conservation requirements based on SJRWMD's model ordinance, and the city's irrigation rules sit in Chapter 366 of the Ordinance Code.
Enforcement runs through multiple channels. The city's irrigation conservation requirements may be enforced by the Environmental and Compliance Department, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, or any state law enforcement officer. SJRWMD also has its own authority to issue violations. These aren't advisory guidelines.
The baseline schedule
Under normal conditions, SJRWMD's schedule works off two variables: your address number and the time of year.
Daylight Saving Time (second Sunday in March through first Sunday in November), up to two days per week:
| Property | Allowed days |
|---|---|
| Odd-numbered address, or no address | Wednesday and Saturday |
| Even-numbered address | Thursday and Sunday |
| Nonresidential | Tuesday and Friday |
Eastern Standard Time (first Sunday in November through second Sunday in March), one day per week:
| Property | Allowed day |
|---|---|
| Odd-numbered address, or no address | Saturday |
| Even-numbered address | Sunday |
| Nonresidential | Tuesday |
Year-round, regardless of season:
- No irrigation between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- No more than ¾ inch of water per zone per irrigation day, or one hour per zone
An odd address ends in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. An even address ends in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8. No address defaults to the odd schedule.
These restrictions apply to private wells and pumps, ground or surface water, and water from public and private utilities. Having your own well doesn't exempt you.
The drought override, and why this article needs a date stamp
Here's the part that makes everything above conditional.
SJRWMD's Water Shortage Plan allows escalating phased restrictions during drought, and those phases supersede the normal odd/even schedule. Recent history in Duval County:
- March 2, 2026: SJRWMD issued a Modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage for portions of northeast and central Florida including Duval County, limiting landscape irrigation to one day per week, citing limited rainfall and declining water levels. The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the region as being in extreme drought.
- March 13, 2026: JEA confirmed the once-a-week schedule was continuing under Phase II, and specified it applied to all JEA water customers, including potable and reuse (reclaimed) customers.
- May 11, 2026: SJRWMD escalated to a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage Declaration, covering portions of Baker, Bradford, Lake, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns counties, plus portions of Alachua and Marion. Reporting described Phase III as keeping residential irrigation at one day per week and prohibiting it between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., a wider window than the standard 10-to-4 rule, with additional restrictions on new plantings including sod installation, certain non-essential commercial, industrial, and institutional uses, and aesthetic water uses like street and pressure washing.
Context on severity: this was described as the highest area of Extreme Drought (D3) coverage in Florida since the U.S. Drought Monitor began in 2000.
This is exactly the kind of information that goes stale. Drought phases get lifted, modified, or escalated as rainfall, groundwater levels, and river flows change. Before you set an irrigation controller based on anything in this article, check the current declaration status directly at sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions or with JEA. That's not a throwaway disclaimer, it's the single most important sentence in this post.
The reclaimed water question
Worth flagging directly, because sources genuinely conflict on this.
JEA stated plainly that under the Phase II restrictions, the one-day-per-week watering restriction also applies to reclaimed water customers. Since JEA is the utility serving most of Duval County, that's the operative answer for most Jacksonville residents.
But other sources describe reclaimed water differently. St. Johns County's guidance stated that reclaimed water is not included in the one-day-per-week irrigation schedule, and separate utility guidance elsewhere in the district has described SJRWMD as allowing reclaimed water use at any time.
These can't all be right for the same customer. If you're a reclaimed or reuse water customer, confirm your specific schedule with JEA directly rather than assuming a general district-wide rule applies to you. This is a real, documented discrepancy, not an ambiguity I'm inventing.
The exceptions
Several categories of watering fall outside the day-of-week schedule entirely:
- Hand-held hose with a spray nozzle or automatic shutoff nozzle
- Micro-irrigation: micro-spray, micro-jet, drip, or bubbler systems, generally allowed at any time
- New landscaping establishment: allowed at any time for the first 30 days, then every other day for the next 30 days, limited to the minimum necessary for establishment
- Non-landscape irrigation: vegetable gardens, playgrounds, football and soccer fields, agricultural crops, and nursery plants can generally be irrigated any time except between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- Maintenance and repair of an irrigation system
Note that drought phase declarations can tighten some of these, particularly the new-planting and sod-installation allowances, which is another reason to confirm current status rather than relying on the baseline exception list.
The rain sensor requirement
This one is easy to overlook and it's a real requirement, not a suggestion.
Anyone irrigating with an automatic lawn irrigation system must install, maintain, and operate an automatic override system that shuts the system off when there's sufficient moisture. That can be a rain sensor device that turns the system off during rainfall, or a soil moisture sensor that prevents it from running when soil moisture is already adequate.
A broken or disconnected rain sensor on an automatic system is a compliance issue, and it's also the most common reason people end up watering during a downpour and drawing a neighbor's complaint.
The HOA protection worth knowing
If you're following the restrictions and your lawn shows drought stress, there's reportedly a state-law protection against being penalized for it.
Florida Statute 373.185 is described as prohibiting HOAs and local governments from penalizing homeowners who reduce irrigation to comply with water management district restrictions. Practically, that means an HOA shouldn't be able to fine you for a stressed lawn that resulted from following a legally mandated once-a-week schedule.
That's a useful thing to know if you're caught between a drought declaration and an HOA architectural standard, though if you're actually in a dispute it's worth having the statute read by someone qualified rather than relying on a summary. This parallels the Fair Housing Act protection covered in the holiday display post: a state or federal rule limiting what an HOA can enforce.
Quick win
Do two things before you touch your irrigation controller.
First, check the current drought declaration status at sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions or with JEA. As of May 2026 Duval County was under a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage limiting irrigation to one day per week, and that supersedes the normal odd/even, two-day schedule entirely. Whether that's still in effect when you read this is the whole question.
Second, verify your rain sensor actually works if you run an automatic system. It's required, it's frequently broken without the owner noticing, and it's the difference between a compliant system and one that waters through a thunderstorm in front of your neighbors during a declared water shortage.
If you're a reclaimed water customer, add a third step: call JEA and get your specific schedule confirmed, since the sources genuinely disagree about whether reuse customers follow the same restrictions.
Drought declarations change as conditions change, and the Phase III declaration described here dates to May 2026. Confirm current restrictions with the St. Johns River Water Management District and JEA before adjusting your irrigation schedule.