Pinellas County watering rules: the year-round days, hours and exemptions

The county allows lawn watering with drinking water, well, lake or pond water two days a week, on days set by your house address.⁴ The district's rule sets the days:^5-6

• No watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on any day.
• A property of two acres or more can water half its ground on each address schedule, with a map on site showing which half gets which days.
• An automatic sprinkler system needs a working rain sensor, soil moisture sensor or similar device that stops it when the ground is wet enough.

All three are in the district's rule.⁵

These come from the district's rule:⁵

• Beds, shrubs and other plants that aren't lawn, as needed on any day, with drip, micro-irrigation, a soaker hose or hand watering. The county's page adds that hand watering needs a shut-off nozzle or other water-efficient device.¹
• Dry patches of lawn, by hand only, during the allowed hours. Hand watering a whole lawn on a day that isn't yours counts as waste.
• New lawns and plants, for 60 days from planting. For the first 30 days they can be watered on any day. From day 31 to day 60, addresses ending in an even number water on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and odd addresses on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. On planting day they can be watered once at any hour. A whole sprinkler zone can be run only if at least half of it is new planting; otherwise water just the new plants.
• Testing a sprinkler system, once a week, up to 10 minutes a zone, with someone there.
• Watering in fertilizer or pesticide where the label or the law calls for it: one quarter inch within 24 hours unless the maker says otherwise, during allowed hours. A professional applicator who posts a dated sign can water outside them.
• After a named tropical storm or hurricane warning, one extra watering within 72 hours to rinse salt off plants.

The district's rule doesn't limit reclaimed water, except where a local government or the reclaimed water supplier does. It asks reclaimed users to avoid watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Water mixed with another source follows that source's rules.⁵

Pinellas County sets its own reclaimed water schedules under section 82-3 of its code, lists the current reclaimed schedule on its watering page, and takes applications for a variance from it.⁷

At any time, under the district's rule:⁵

• leaving a hose running with no one there;
• hosing a driveway, sidewalk or building to clear what a broom could;
• leaving a broken sprinkler head or leaking faucet running after the district, the utility or the county has told you about it.

The county also counts watering during or after rain as waste.¹

City and county officers help the district enforce its rule.² Pinellas County Utilities issues citations to its customers. To report a violation, use the county's SeeClickFix service and choose "Illegal Watering," or call its Water Conservation team at (727) 464-8888.⁸ That page also gives the citation amounts in force.

If you need relief from the district's rule, you ask the district for a variance. Relief from a local government's own measures is asked of that government.⁹

If your water doesn't come from Pinellas County Utilities, check your own supplier's watering days and rules.⁸ The district keeps a list of each city's and county's contact for restriction questions and violation reports.¹⁰