{"id":650343,"date":"2026-05-18T13:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650343\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:01:11","slug":"water-restrictions-tighten-across-northeast-florida-amid-drought-heres-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650343\/","title":{"rendered":"Water restrictions tighten across Northeast Florida amid drought: Here’s what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Water restrictions are tightening across Northeast Florida as parts of the region move into Phase III drought conditions. <\/p>\n

The St. Johns River Water Management District says the shift is being driven by a long stretch of below-average rainfall and dropping groundwater levels.<\/p>\n

So what does that mean for you?<\/p>\n

As in Phase II, outdoor watering continues to be allowed only one day a week for residential, commercial and institutional properties, including managed landscapes and athletic fields. <\/p>\n

But under Phase III, restrictions on irrigation for new plantings, including sod, have also been tightened.<\/p>\n

Additional Phase III measures include: <\/p>\n

Commercial, industrial and institutional users must suspend certain non-essential water uses.<\/p>\n

Irrigation for golf course fairways is limited to one day per week.<\/p>\n

Aesthetic water use is prohibited, and additional restrictions apply to activities such as street and pressure washing.<\/p>\n

Landscape irrigation is prohibited between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

A detailed report can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Officials are urging residents to take these conservation restrictions seriously as dry conditions continue.<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service in Jacksonville released a Public Information Statement<\/a> last Wednesday, highlighting rainfall totals from Sunday, May 10, at 7 a.m. through 7 a.m. on May 13.<\/p>\n

While every little drop helps, our region is still in an exceptional to extreme drought with over 25\u2033 year over year of rainfall deficit.<\/p>\n

Rainfall Deficit<\/p>\n

Officials say it\u2019s those environmental factors\u2014lack of rainfall and dropping groundwater levels\u2014that triggered the move to Phase III, not a sudden spike in water use.<\/p>\n

They say overall water use in North Florida has remained relatively flat over the past decade\u2014even as the population has grown\u2014because of conservation measures already in place.<\/p>\n

The district is urging people to take these new restrictions seriously\u2014because cutting back on irrigation is one of the quickest ways to reduce demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are looking at water use, our largest water use is residential irrigation, and what some of your viewers might not know is that an average irrigation cycle uses a thousand gallons of water,\u201d said Carlos Hear, regional water supply coordinator for St. Johns River Water Management District. \u201cSo if you add that up, for a thousand times every house we have in North Florida, that\u2019s a lot of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Water restrictions are tightening across Northeast Florida as parts of the region move into Phase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,21035,79,2986,7001],"class_list":["post-650343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-morning-show","tag-science","tag-weather","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}