{"id":216207,"date":"2026-04-02T16:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/216207\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:01:12","slug":"new-water-restrictions-begin-friday-in-tampa-bay-area-what-residents-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/216207\/","title":{"rendered":"New water restrictions begin Friday in Tampa Bay area. What residents need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s no secret that Florida is experiencing an extreme drought.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the Southwest Florida Water Management District has declared a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swfwmd.state.fl.us\/business\/epermitting\/district-water-restrictions\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Phase Three Extreme Water Shortage<\/a>, and new water-use requirements start on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>It includes limits on lawn watering, vehicle washing and aesthetic fountain use. This includes residents with private wells. Restaurants are also only allowed to serve water upon request.<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wusf.org\/environment\/2026-03-24\/stricter-outdoor-watering-restrictions-southwest-florida-tampa-bay-ongoing-drought\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stricter outdoor watering restrictions are coming due to ongoing drought<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay area residents are starting to get texts and emails from utilities reminding them of the restrictions and encouraging them to \u201cconserve water.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>SWFWMD details <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swfwmd.state.fl.us\/residents\/water-101\/homeowners\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ways to save wate<\/a>r on its website. <\/p>\n<p>Water district\u00a0officials say the below-average amount of rainfall last summer means there&#8217;s nearly a 14-inch deficit, compared with an average year.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say public water supplies are extremely low for this time of year, and the season doesn&#8217;t usually pick up until June.<\/p>\n<p>Lawn watering will be limited to one day a week. Outdoor use accounts for more than 50% of water used. <\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wusf.org\/weather\/2026-04-02\/floridas-drought-caused-a-surge-in-wildfires-and-peak-season-is-still-ahead\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida&#8217;s drought caused a surge in wildfires, and peak season is still ahead<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The restrictions apply to Citrus, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota and Sumter counties; portions of Charlotte, Highlands and Lake counties; the city of Dunnellon and The Villages in Marion County; and the portion of Gasparilla Island in Charlotte County.<\/p>\n<p>More specific restrictions \u2013 and assigned lawn watering days \u2013 vary by county and address.<\/p>\n<p>Normally, residents are issued warnings the first time they violate restrictions. Starting April 17, several counties will issue citations without warning, as directed by SWFWMD.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Click the county or city name to see specific guidance:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no secret that Florida is experiencing an extreme drought. As a result, the Southwest Florida Water Management&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-216207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216207","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=216207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}