Sarasota Watering Restrictions: One Day a Week, and Whether Your System Can Actually Deliver It

Last updated: July 30, 2026

Quick answer: Sarasota County is under the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Modified Phase III "Extreme" water shortage restrictions, extended through October 1, 2026. Lawn and landscape watering is limited to once per week, on a day set by the last digit of your address, and for properties under one acre only within a single overnight or late-evening window. That window is under four hours long. UF/IFAS guidance is to apply half to three-quarters of an inch per irrigation event. Those two facts together create the constraint almost nobody checks: a multi-zone system may physically need more run time than the law allows, and if it does, no schedule can water the whole property legally.

What are the current Sarasota watering rules?

Under the District’s Modified Phase III "Extreme" restrictions, lawn and landscape watering "remains limited to a once-per-week schedule." Your day is assigned by the last digit of your street address:

• addresses ending 0 or 1 — Monday
• addresses ending 2 or 3 — Tuesday
• addresses ending 4 or 5 — Wednesday
• addresses ending 6 or 7 — Thursday
• addresses ending 8 or 9 — Friday

For properties under one acre, watering on that day is permitted only between 12:01 a.m. and 4 a.m. or between 8 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. — and only one of those two windows may be used, not both.

The restrictions were extended through October 1, 2026.

The part no one calculates: can your system finish in time?

This is the question that decides whether the rules are workable on your specific property, and it is arithmetic, not opinion. Work it in three steps.

Step 1 — how much water does the lawn need per event? UF/IFAS guidance for St. Augustinegrass is to apply one-half to three-quarters of an inch of water per irrigation application. Because you now get one application per week, that figure is your entire weekly irrigation budget.

Step 2 — how fast does your system apply water? This is the number almost nobody knows, and it cannot be assumed — it varies by head type, spacing, nozzle and pressure. Measure it: set several straight-sided containers (tuna or cat-food tins work) across one zone, run that zone for exactly 15 minutes, then measure the depth collected in each and average it. Multiply by four and you have that zone’s application rate in inches per hour.

Step 3 — do the division, then the multiplication. Run time per zone = depth needed ÷ measured rate. Then total the run times of every zone. That total has to fit inside one permitted window.

The permitted window is the hard ceiling. From 12:01 a.m. to 4 a.m. is 239 minutes; from 8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. is also 239 minutes. Just under four hours, once a week, for the entire property.

Worked through with your own measured rate, the arithmetic is unforgiving. If a zone measures 0.5 inches per hour, half an inch takes 60 minutes and three-quarters of an inch takes 90. Six such zones at the lower figure is 360 minutes — already 121 minutes past the 239 available. If a zone measures 1.0 inch per hour, the same half inch takes 30 minutes and six zones fit comfortably. The rate is the whole story, and it is the one input most homeowners have never measured.

Those figures are arithmetic on your measured rate, not a claim about any particular Sarasota property. Measure your zones and run the numbers for your own system.

What if the total does not fit?

Then the honest answer is that your current configuration cannot legally water the whole property, and something has to change. The realistic options:

Raise the application rate. Higher-output nozzles, or correcting pressure problems, deliver the same depth in less time. Excessive pressure that atomises water into drifting mist is common and it lengthens every run time on the property.

Reduce the irrigated area. Fewer, smaller turf zones means fewer minutes to find. Converting the areas that are decorative rather than used is the structural fix, and it is why so many Florida properties are moving turf out of the places nobody walks.

Move beds off the clock. Beds and plantings served by micro-irrigation are treated differently from lawn sprinkler zones under District rules, which frees window minutes for the turf that actually needs them. Check the current provisions that apply to your system type before relying on this.

Stop watering what does not need it. Shaded zones and low-traffic areas often need materially less than the sunny front lawn they share a schedule with.

Does one day a week actually keep a lawn alive?

It can, provided the water that does go on goes on properly and the mowing is right — and mowing does more work here than most people expect.

UF/IFAS guidance for standard St. Augustinegrass cultivars mown with a rotary mower is to maintain a height of 3.5 to 4 inches, removing no more than one-third of the leaf blade at any mowing. Taller grass shades its own root zone and holds soil moisture longer between events. Under a once-weekly allowance that is not a cosmetic preference, it is part of how the lawn survives the other six days.

The other half is depth. A weekly event that only wets the top inch produces shallow roots and a lawn that wilts by day four. The point of applying the full half to three-quarters of an inch is to wet the root zone deeply enough that the plant can draw on it all week.

Do these rules apply to new sod?

Establishment is a different situation from an established lawn, and it matters here because St. Augustinegrass is established by vegetative propagation only — sod, plugs or sprigs — so new turf always begins as material that has not yet rooted. Water shortage orders commonly make separate provision for establishing new landscape. Confirm the provisions in force with the District or your utility before the sod is delivered, and plan the installation around them. Laying first and asking afterwards is how new lawns are lost.

Frequently asked questions

What day can I water in Sarasota County? The day set by the last digit of your address: 0 or 1 Monday, 2 or 3 Tuesday, 4 or 5 Wednesday, 6 or 7 Thursday, 8 or 9 Friday, under the District’s Modified Phase III restrictions.

What hours am I allowed to water? For properties under one acre, between 12:01 a.m. and 4 a.m. or between 8 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on your assigned day — one of those windows, not both.

How long is the permitted window? Each window is 239 minutes, just under four hours. That is the total time available for every zone on the property, once a week.

How much water should each irrigation apply? UF/IFAS guidance for St. Augustinegrass is one-half to three-quarters of an inch per irrigation application.

How do I find out how fast my sprinklers apply water? Place straight-sided containers across a zone, run it for 15 minutes, measure and average the depth collected, then multiply by four to get inches per hour.

What if my zones need more time than the window allows? Then the property cannot be watered legally as configured. Raising the application rate, reducing irrigated turf area, or moving beds onto micro-irrigation are the practical routes.

How long do the restrictions last? The District’s Modified Phase III one-day-per-week restrictions were extended through October 1, 2026.

How tall should I mow? UF/IFAS guidance for standard St. Augustinegrass cultivars with a rotary mower is 3.5 to 4 inches, removing no more than one-third of the blade at a time.

Sources

• Southwest Florida Water Management District — district water restrictions (Modified Phase III "Extreme", once-per-week schedule, address-digit day assignment, permitted hours, extension through October 1, 2026): swfwmd.state.fl.us
• UF/IFAS Extension — St. Augustinegrass for Florida Lawns (ENH5/LH010; Trenholm, Shaddox, Schiavon, Unruh & Kenworthy): irrigation depth per application, mowing height and the one-third rule, vegetative establishment: edis.ifas.ufl.edu/lh010

Window lengths (239 minutes) and run-time examples on this page are arithmetic derived from the two cited sources above. They are shown so the method can be checked, not presented as measurements of any particular property.

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