{"id":407694,"date":"2026-09-22T23:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/407694\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T23:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:34:31","slug":"southwest-florida-water-management-district-extends-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/407694\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Florida Water Management District extends order"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Southwest Florida Water Management District on Tuesday approved an extension to its water shortage order to March 31 of next year.<\/p>\n

The board agreed to reduce or rescind the water shortage before that date if necessary.<\/p>\n

This is the second extension to the Modified Phase Three Water Shortage Order.<\/p>\n

A hydrologic conditions report showed below-average rainfall from back-to-back rainy summer seasons, and that consistent, above-average rainfall is needed to reduce the long-term deficit.<\/p>\n

Residents should check with their city or county for days and times to restrict water.<\/p>\n

The district says summer storms have helped stabilize conditions, but they have not been enough to erase the long-term shortage. According to the district, the rainfall deficit grew slightly from 15.2 inches in July to 15.4 inches in August.<\/p>\n

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows moderate to extreme drought conditions<\/a> still affecting much of the greater Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s rainy season officially ends in the coming weeks, raising concerns that the region may not receive enough rain to make up the deficit before the drier months begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Spectrum Bay News 9\u2019s Weather Experts, beginning in October, the average monthly rainfall drops significantly in Tampa Bay as we enter our dry season.<\/p>\n

However, with the expected very strong El Nino for the fall and winter, we would have a wetter winter in Florida and potentially more severe weather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Southwest Florida Water Management District on Tuesday approved an extension to its water shortage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7083,7086,276,7088,115,1338,596,1911,4135,275,135,137,136,835],"class_list":["post-407694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-citrus-county","tag-hernando-county","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-manatee-county","tag-news","tag-pasco-county","tag-pinellas-county","tag-polk-county","tag-sarasota-county","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407694","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=407694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}