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Keep the sprinkler timer on its restricted schedule
October will not bring a return to more frequent lawn watering in Parrish. The Southwest Florida Water Management District has extended its Modified Phase III water-shortage restrictions through March 31, 2027, after another summer of below-average rainfall.
For homeowners, the immediate consequence is straightforward: the once-a-week schedule continues into spring. The trickier question is what happens when a builder hands over a freshly landscaped house, or you replace a patch of struggling sod. Those plants have an establishment allowance, but it comes with limits.[2][3]
Your watering day follows your address
Manatee County’s standard schedule uses the last digit of your street address:
0 or 1: Monday. 2 or 3: Tuesday. 4 or 5: Wednesday. 6 or 7: Thursday. 8 or 9: Friday.
Common areas with mixed addresses, or no determinable address, also use Friday under that standard schedule.
The county lists two windows: 12:01–4 a.m. or 8–11:59 p.m. A property smaller than one acre gets one window, not both. Properties of one acre or more may use the early and late periods.
Private wells are covered. Straight reclaimed water is exempt from the mandatory schedule, though conservation is encouraged; blending reclaimed water with a well, pond or another source brings it under the restrictions. That distinction matters more than the color of a sprinkler head.[1]
New sod gets an allowance—not a free pass for the whole yard
The county asks owners to register new landscaping with its Water Conservation Office. Installation-day watering is allowed at any time; during days 1–30, watering may occur daily before 4 a.m. or after 8 p.m., with one irrigation event per zone per day.
Days 31–60 step down to three days: Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for even addresses; Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for odd addresses. Mixed-address or unnumbered common areas use Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Keep proof of installation and a written establishment-watering schedule.
For an in-ground system, new plants or sod must cover at least half of an irrigation zone to qualify. Only qualifying zones get the extra days. Smaller additions must be hand-watered under the establishment rules.
In other words, replacing a little sod does not justify running every zone all week. The county’s registration contact is 941-792-8811, extension 5327, or water.conservation@mymanatee.org. A watering variance does not provide a utility-bill discount.[3][2]
Flower beds and HOA demands have different rules
Established flowers and shrubs can be hand-watered or served by micro-irrigation any day before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m., according to the district. That allowance does not extend to established lawns.
The district also says HOAs cannot enforce aesthetic standards that require increased use of potable, surface or domestic-well water, including demands to replace plants or pressure-wash.
For a new-home walkthrough, I’d put the irrigation settings on the same list as the keys and garage remotes. Know the water source, the installation date and which zones contain new landscaping before inheriting someone else’s timer settings.[2][3]
Sources & verification date
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