St. Augustine FL Water Restrictions 2026

Current water restrictions in St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine — the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city in the United States, established in 1565 — is operating under Modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage restrictions issued by the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). Outdoor irrigation is limited to one day per week, by address parity, with a midday blackout from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Phase II declaration applies across all 18 SJRWMD counties, including St. Johns County, and remains in place until District hydrologists confirm that aquifer levels and rainfall recharge have returned to normal.

Phase II is one step short of the District's most severe footing — Phase III — and is reserved for periods of demonstrated severe water-supply stress. To put the schedule in context: SJRWMD's year-round baseline already limits residential irrigation to two days per week during daylight saving time and one day per week during standard time. Phase II imposes the one-day-per-week cap year-round, regardless of season.

St. Augustine has a particular set of vulnerabilities that make Phase II compliance especially relevant. St. Johns County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Florida, with master-planned communities — Nocatee, SilverLeaf, World Golf Village, the Beachwalk lagoon community — adding tens of thousands of irrigated home sites in the past decade. Tourism layered on top of that growth means peak summer water demand is significantly higher than the underlying population would suggest. Spring break, July 4 weekend, the August beach season, and the annual Nights of Lights from November through January all push consumption.

The historic district introduces a separate twist. The original Spanish colonial street grid is dense, pedestrian-scaled, and almost entirely impervious — coquina paving stones, tabby walls, narrow lanes laid out long before stormwater management was a regulatory concept. Rainfall that would percolate to the surficial aquifer in a typical neighborhood instead runs off into Matanzas Bay or floods the streets in a heavy storm. That makes Phase II compliance more urgent for St. Augustine than for sprawling suburban counties — every drop conserved during drought matters more.

When can you water in St. Augustine?

Under SJRWMD Modified Phase II, St. Augustine residential and commercial irrigation is limited to one day per week by address parity, with the daytime blackout from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The schedule applies to all water sources used for irrigation — potable water from St. Johns County Utility Department, JEA service in northern St. Johns County, private wells, and reclaimed water. Specific neighborhoods using reclaimed-water irrigation may have additional subdivision-level scheduling, but those subdivision schedules cannot exceed the SJRWMD one-day cap during Phase II.

• Hand watering with a hose with shut-off nozzle: any day, any time. Useful for keeping recently planted shrubs, vegetable gardens, and container plants alive between irrigation days.
• Microirrigation (drip) for non-lawn plantings: any day. Drip emitters watering turf are still scheduled.
• New landscapes: 60-day establishment window — any day for the first 30 days, every other day for days 31–60, then standard schedule.
• Athletic fields and golf courses: separate variance pathway through SJRWMD; the city's public parks and the historic playing fields at Flagler College operate under their own approvals.
• Aesthetic fountains: prohibited under Phase II unless 100 percent recirculating with documented compliance.

Penalty schedule for water violations

SJRWMD Phase II is enforced by St. Augustine Code Enforcement and St. Johns County Code Enforcement, depending on jurisdiction. The City of St. Augustine handles the original municipal limits; St. Johns County administers the unincorporated areas and most master-planned communities like Nocatee and SilverLeaf.

• First violation: a written warning. The notice records the date, time, and observed violation, and is logged against the property.
• Second and subsequent violations: citations issued under local ordinance with progressive fines, typically rising from low-double-digit amounts to several hundred dollars per offense for repeat violators.
• Commercial properties — hotels, restaurants, the irrigated landscape banks lining U.S. 1 and A1A — face higher penalty ranges, reflecting both their water-use volume and the visibility of their landscaping.

Reports of violations can go to SJRWMD at 386-329-4500, City of St. Augustine Code Enforcement, or St. Johns County Code Enforcement depending on the property location. Reporters do not need to identify themselves.

Other outdoor water rules

Phase II adds several prohibitions beyond the day-of-week schedule:

• Wasteful use: prohibited at all times. Sprinklers running while it is raining, water sheeting off pavement, broken heads, and excessive runoff to gutters or to the historic-district stormwater system are violations regardless of day or hour.
• Rain sensors: required on automatic systems under Florida Statute § 373.62. Non-functioning sensors are themselves a violation under Phase II enforcement.
• Vehicle washing at home: permitted with a hose and shut-off nozzle, outside the daytime blackout, on any day.
• Pool top-offs: permitted to replace evaporative loss; new fills require coordination with the local utility under Phase II.
• Pressure washing: only for surface preparation prior to painting, sealing, or repair, or where required for public-health reasons. Routine cosmetic pressure washing of homes, driveways, and historic-district sidewalks is restricted.
• Reclaimed water for ornamental fountains: prohibited under Phase II.

Tourism operators along Avenida Menendez and within the historic district have a particular obligation to comply: violations on visible, high-traffic properties are reliably reported by residents and other businesses, and code enforcement gives those reports priority because of the precedent they set.

Where St. Augustine's water comes from

St. Augustine and most of St. Johns County draw drinking water from the Upper Floridan Aquifer. The City of St. Augustine operates its own utility serving the historic city core, while St. Johns County Utility Department serves the bulk of the surrounding county including the master-planned communities. JEA (the Jacksonville-area utility) serves portions of northern St. Johns County, particularly along the Duval County line.

The Floridan Aquifer in St. Johns County is generally productive but increasingly stressed. Population growth in the I-95 corridor and the Nocatee–SilverLeaf belt has roughly doubled groundwater demand over the past two decades. Saltwater intrusion is a coastal concern, particularly along the Intracoastal Waterway where the freshwater–saltwater boundary in the surficial aquifer can move with tides, drought, and pumping rates.

Reclaimed water is widely deployed in newer master-planned communities. Nocatee, SilverLeaf, and World Golf Village all run dedicated purple-pipe systems that deliver treated wastewater to residential irrigation lines, taking pressure off the potable supply. Under Phase II, reclaimed water is still subject to the one-day schedule — a point worth emphasizing because the assumption "we have purple pipe so the rules don't apply to us" is a common misunderstanding in those neighborhoods. The District's rationale is that reclaimed-water systems are sized for typical rainfall years; during drought, they become a critical buffer for the surficial aquifer that is itself already stressed.

The historic district is served largely by City of St. Augustine Utilities, with a distribution system that has been progressively upgraded since the 1960s. Many of the older buildings have lateral lines from the colonial era replaced with modern PVC, but tree-root intrusion and subsidence in the coquina-rich subsoil remain ongoing maintenance concerns.

Can your HOA fine you for a brown lawn?

St. Johns County is heavily HOA-governed. Nocatee alone administers landscape standards for tens of thousands of homes; SilverLeaf, Beachwalk, and the various Sawgrass-area villages all maintain their own architectural review processes.

Florida Statute § 720.3075 prohibits HOAs from enforcing covenants that require lawns to be irrigated, fertilized, or maintained at a level inconsistent with water-conservation measures imposed by a water management district. The statute also protects Florida-Friendly landscaping — drought-tolerant plantings, low-water turf alternatives, mulched beds, rain gardens. An HOA cannot legally cite a homeowner for a brown lawn during Phase II, nor for installing Florida-Friendly drought-resistant landscaping.

Sample response if you receive a violation notice in a Nocatee or SilverLeaf neighborhood:

"Dear [HOA Architectural Review Committee], the St. Johns River Water Management District has declared a Modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage limiting landscape irrigation to one day per week in St. Johns County. My lawn's condition reflects compliance with that declaration and applies even though our community has reclaimed-water irrigation. Under Florida Statute § 720.3075, the Association may not enforce covenants that require landscape maintenance inconsistent with the District's water-conservation measures. Please withdraw the violation. Sincerely, [Your name]"

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation administers HOA dispute resolution. Document everything in writing, and keep copies of any irrigation-system controller logs that show compliance.

How to manage your lawn during drought

St. Augustine sits at the transition between USDA Hardiness Zone 9a and 9b, in the warm-humid coastal corridor where St. Augustinegrass (its namesake), Bahiagrass, Zoysiagrass, Bermudagrass, and Centipedegrass dominate residential lawns.

Mow at the upper end of the recommended range. Taller St. Augustine and Bahia retain moisture better and shade out weeds.

Skip summer fertilizer. Florida's rainy-season nitrogen and phosphorus restrictions already cover June through September; Phase II is a good reason to extend that personal moratorium through the dry months as well.

Mulch heavily in beds. Two to three inches of pine straw or hardwood mulch around trees and in shrub borders dramatically cuts irrigation demand. Pine straw is widely available in St. Johns County and breaks down nicely into the sandy coastal soils.

Plant Florida-Friendly. Coontie, beach sunflower, muhly grass, fakahatchee grass, and saw palmetto are all native, salt-tolerant, and adapted to drought. Replacing struggling turf with Florida-Friendly beds is the most effective long-term Phase II strategy.

Brown is not dead. Bahiagrass and dormant St. Augustine recover quickly with rainfall. A lawn that browns through August will green back up after the first significant tropical system rolls through.

Questions residents are asking

My neighborhood uses reclaimed water (Nocatee, SilverLeaf, World Golf Village). Do Phase II rules still apply?

Yes. SJRWMD Phase II restrictions apply to all water sources used for irrigation, including reclaimed water, unless your local government has secured a specific exemption. The reasoning is that reclaimed systems are sized for typical conditions; during drought, they need the same conservation discipline as potable systems.

Is St. Augustine's historic district exempt because the buildings are historic?

No. The Phase II declaration applies citywide. The historic district's relatively small private-yard footprint actually makes compliance easier — most historic homes have small courtyards or no yard at all, and most landscape water is for hotel, restaurant, and museum grounds, all of which are commercial and bound by the same schedule.

Why was Florida's oldest city declared in severe water shortage if it has been here for 460 years?

Phase II reflects current hydrologic conditions across the broader St. Johns region, not local history. The Floridan Aquifer is shared across northeast and east-central Florida, and SJRWMD manages it as a regional resource. St. Augustine's longevity has not insulated it from the regional drought driving the Phase II call.

Can I water my Spanish moss-draped historic oak?

Mature live oaks generally do not need supplemental irrigation; their root systems extend far beyond the canopy and tap deep soil moisture. If you must water a stressed mature tree, use a slow-drip soaker hose or hand watering on any day, focusing on the drip line.

Are vacation rentals (Airbnb, VRBO) on the same schedule?

Yes. Phase II applies to all properties regardless of occupancy type. Vacation-rental owners are responsible for ensuring guest-managed irrigation systems and timers comply with the schedule.

How is enforcement coordinated between the City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County?

City Code Enforcement handles violations within the original city limits; County Code Enforcement handles unincorporated St. Johns County, which includes most master-planned communities. Both report up to SJRWMD for District-wide tracking.

What days can I water my lawn in St. Augustine?

Odd addresses: Wednesday; Even addresses: Thursday Hand watering with a shut-off nozzle is typically allowed any day during permitted hours.

What time can I water in St. Augustine?

Watering is allowed Not 10am-4pm. Watering outside these hours is a violation even on your assigned day.

What are the fines for watering violations in St. Augustine?

First offense: Warning first offense. Repeat violations: Citations per local ordinance. Contact St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) for the full enforcement schedule.

When will water restrictions end in St. Augustine?

Current Modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage restrictions are in effect through Until SJRWMD rescinds. Monitor https://www.sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions/ for the latest status.

How do I report a water waste violation in St. Augustine?

Contact St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) at 386-329-4500 or visit https://www.sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions/. Most utilities accept online reports and respond within 48 hours.