Tampa Bay residents will have to cut back further on water usage amid ballooning heat and what will likely be a dry remainder of the month.
Officials on March 24 announced a step up in water restrictions, a level the region hasn’t seen in nearly a decade.
However, long-term weather predictions show drought conditions could improve over the next several months — though officials couldn’t rule out further restrictions should they worsen.
Starting April 3, the Southwest Florida Water Management District will go into a Modified Phase 3 “Extreme” Water Shortage, up from a modified Phase 2. The water district’s board approved the restrictions March 24.
Residents will remain under a one-day-per-week watering schedule, but watering hours will tighten.
Lawn watering hours will be reduced to 12:01 a.m. to 4 a.m. or after 8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., unless a resident’s city or county has more restrictive watering hours in place. Properties less than an acre can use only one time window.
Other changes include no pressure washing ahead of painting or sealing, car washing is only allowable on lawn watering days and aesthetic fountains can run only four hours a day, the district said.
The water shortage is in effect for Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Hernando, Polk and Manatee counties, among other district counties and cities. It will run through July 1.
“This is the first time since 2012 that we have experienced such intense drought conditions,” said Tamera McBride, the district’s hydrologic data manager, during the Tuesday meeting.
On March 1, Tampa Bay Water triggered a Stage 3 Extreme Regional Supply Shortage. The water supplier called it “one of the most severe regional water supply shortages in the last 50 years” in a news release.
An extreme shortage is triggered when Tampa Bay Water’s regional reservoir is at risk of falling below 3 billion gallons within three months.
Despite some beneficial rain in March, all of Florida remains under a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The district is running at nearly a 14-inch regional rainfall deficit compared to last year. Water levels in aquifers, rivers and lakes are declining, and some are “severely abnormal,” the district said this week. Public water supplies are also “extremely low.”
“It took us a while to get here; it’s going to take some time to get out of it,” McBride said.
The Tampa Bay region is smack-dab in the middle of the dry season. The rainy season typically does not return until mid-May, when afternoon thunderstorms rumble back in.
A drought outlook from the Climate Prediction Center showed that much of Florida was likely to remain in a drought but see improvement from March through the end of June.
The watering restrictions come as a heat wave blistered across the country’s west coast, smashing March heat records, which forecasters predict will creep east and lead to one of the most expansive heat waves in American history.
The National Weather Service expects near-record-breaking heat Friday and Saturday in Tampa Bay, when temperatures could near 90 degrees. Luckily, it won’t last long, and by Monday, highs will fall back into the low 80s.
Though there are signs the drought conditions could improve, water officials on Tuesday spoke of the possibility of moving to even tighter restrictions, known as Phase 4, if they don’t. The last such water shortage was in 2009.
Officials said March 24 that, should the district implement a Phase 4, it could choose to keep one-day-a-week watering. Further restrictions were “not out of the question,” said April Breton, the district’s water use permitting bureau chief.
As part of the Phase 3 ramp-up, water utilities — which enforce restrictions — can issue citations without warning two weeks after the new shortage goes into effect.
Across the district, utilities gave out 374 citations and 2,373 warnings during January and February.
Pinellas reported none in January, and 111 warnings in February, but no citations. Hillsborough delivered 804 warnings and 149 citations, and Pasco had 902 warnings but no citations across the two months.
Water restriction summary
The latest restrictions begin April 3. Lawn and landscape watering is limited to once per week during designated hours.
Restrictions also apply to people on wells. For those using reclaimed water, watering hours are voluntary unless restricted by a local government or utility.
According to the district, these are the standard watering days based on addresses ending in:
• 0 or 1 shall only water on Monday
• 2 or 3, on Tuesday
• 4 or 5, on Wednesday
• 6 or 7, on Thursday
• 8 or 9, on Friday, along with locations with a mix of addresses or for which an address cannot be determined (such as common areas associated with a subdivision).
