As clocks fall back this weekend, residents across Central Florida and the Treasure Coast will also need to scale back their lawn irrigation to once a week.
“Starting this weekend, we are moving to once-a-week watering, whereas over the summer we do twice-a-week,” said Caitlin Butler, communications coordinator for the St. Johns River Water Management District. “That’s just because we’re entering the drier months of the year, so the lawns just don’t need as much water to still thrive.”
The district adjusts watering schedules twice a year in coordination with daylight saving time. The new schedule takes effect Nov. 2 and remains in place until March, when the clocks move forward again.
“So the schedules run on the seasons of the year with daylight saving time and Eastern Standard Time,” Butler said. “We’re entering Eastern Standard Time, or ‘fall back,’ so this schedule of once-a-week watering will go from the first weekend of November to the second Sunday in March.”
Under the new schedule, homes with odd-numbered addresses or no address may water on Saturdays, even-numbered addresses on Sundays, and nonresidential properties on Tuesdays. The district also advises avoiding irrigation between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when higher temperatures reduce watering efficiency.
During the cooler months, Butler said lawns naturally grow slower and need less irrigation.
“Our lawns here in Central Florida actually go nearly dormant,” she said. “Your lawn might not look as green as it would during the summer months, but that’s just due to the cooler temperatures slowing the growth down.”
Butler also encouraged residents to watch for signs of overwatering, such as excessive weeds or persistently soggy grass. Overwatering not only wastes money but can also harm local waterways.
“When we irrigate our lawns, a lot of people use things such as fertilizer,” Butler said. “So limiting irrigation limits runoff of potential nutrients that enter the lagoon. The less we’re watering, the less possibility of nutrients entering.”
Cutting back on irrigation helps conserve water and lower utility bills, she added.
“Watering too much right now is not cost-efficient,” Butler said. “A lot of people pay for irrigation, so conserving helps keep your pocketbook healthy and gives us a great opportunity to save water.”
Residents can take additional steps to conserve, such as calibrating sprinklers, checking for leaks or misdirected sprays, and installing rain sensors or smart irrigation controllers that pause watering during rainfall.
More information, including conservation tips and ways to report overwatering, is available on the SJRWMD website.