{"id":206494,"date":"2026-03-26T05:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206494\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:29:25","slug":"new-water-restrictions-for-west-florida-tampa-amid-worst-drought-in-last-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206494\/","title":{"rendered":"New water restrictions for West Florida, Tampa amid worst drought in last 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part of Kelly Park in Orange County, Florida was burned intentionally Wednesday as land management officials try to stay ahead of fire weather conditions.\u00a0The Florida Forest Service (FFS) is reporting a dangerous start to the 2026 fire season, with more than 650 wildfires recorded across the state since Jan. 1. More than 95 percent of the state is experiencing drought conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Water restrictions are tightening across parts of Florida<\/a> as the state’s historic drought<\/a> intensifies with two more months to go before the start of the rainy season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Southwest Florida Water Management District, which includes Tampa<\/a>, voted Tuesday to declare an “extreme” water shortage which will restrict private outdoor water use.<\/p>\n

HISTORIC HEAT WAVE EXPANDS INTO CENTRAL US AFTER WEEKS OF RECORD HEAT IN THE SOUTHWEST<\/a><\/p>\n

The new restrictions, set to take effect April 3, will limit lawn watering to just one day a week, shorten lawn watering hours, and restrict home car washing and the use of aesthetic fountains.<\/p>\n

LARGEST MALE GREAT WHITE SHARK ‘CONTENDER’ RETURNS TO WATERS OFF FLORIDA’S COAST IN TIME FOR SPRING BREAK<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida’s other four water conservation districts are also engaged in some form of water conservation, with the majority of the state under Extreme Drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.<\/p>\n

Extreme Drought is characterized by widespread crop losses and widespread water shortages.<\/p>\n

Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in February amid the worst drought conditions in the last 25 years \u2014 primarily to address the increased wildfire<\/a> threat caused by the severe lack of rainfall.<\/p>\n

MASSIVE FLORIDA WILDFIRE SHUTS DOWN INTERSTATE 75 ALONG PART OF ALLIGATOR ALLEY AMID HISTORIC DROUGHT<\/a><\/p>\n

The emergency declaration also waived agricultural weight restrictions to allow farmers to transport and harvest crops faster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Florida Forest Service, 79 wildfires are ongoing and have scorched more than 4,500 acres across the state.<\/p>\n

\"Latest <\/p>\n

Latest Florida drought monitor.<\/p>\n

(U.S. Drought Monitor \/ FOX Weather)<\/p>\n

According to the FOX Forecast Center, Florida has been in a prolonged dry pattern since the 2025 hurricane<\/a> season, which saw no landfalling tropical systems in Florida.<\/p>\n

‘SUPER EL NI\u00d1O’ BREWING AS LA NI\u00d1A FADES AHEAD OF PEAK HURRICANE SEASON<\/a><\/p>\n

Since Aug. 1, 2025, Tallahassee<\/a> is more than 17 inches below its average rainfall for this point this year; Jacksonville<\/a> sits more than 15 inches below normal for the same period.<\/p>\n

Even tropical Miami<\/a> is facing a significant rain deficit.<\/p>\n

\"Florida <\/p>\n

Florida rain comparison<\/p>\n

(FOX Weather \/ FOX Weather)<\/p>\n

Little relief is expected with more than two months to go before the start of the rainy season across most of the state.<\/p>\n

Parts of Central and South Florida will see less than 0.5 inches of rain over the next seven days, with no rain expected across much of the Panhandle.<\/p>\n

\"Expected <\/p>\n

Expected rainfall<\/p>\n

(FOX Weather)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Part of Kelly Park in Orange County, Florida was burned intentionally Wednesday as land management officials try to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[525,28,105,49081,135,137,136,628,82688],"class_list":["post-206494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-drought","tag-florida","tag-outdoors","tag-precipitation","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us","tag-us-regions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}