NOTICE
St Johns River Water Management District Declaration of Phase 3 Extreme Water Shortage
Below-average rainfall, continuing declining groundwater levels, and reduced river flows are contributing to water resource stress, therefore the St Johns River Water Management District has issued a Phase 3 Extreme Water Shortage Order, SJR No. 2026-017
(https://aws.sjrwmd.com/
SJRWMD/government/
2026-017-WSO-Phase-III.pdf )
(Order)for all of Clay, Duval, Fla-gler, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns counties, those portions of Baker, Bradford, and Lake counties lo-cated within the District, those portions of Alachua County located within the District, except for unincorporated areas, for which water shortage-related orders have been delegated to the Suwannee River Water Management District, and those portions of Marion County located within the District, the City of Ocala, and all unincorporated areas of Marion County, except for the unincorporated area lying within The Villages of Marion, FQD, for which water shortage-related orders have been delegated to the Southwest Florida Water Management District. A summary of the restrictions and other requirements is provided below. Please refer to the Order for more details.
All residential and landscape use irrigation is limited to one day a week and prohibited from 8 a.m to 6 p.m.
Number of days of allowable irrigation of new plantings, including sod has been reduced.
Aesthetic uses of water are prohibited and additional restrictions apply to activities such as street and pressure washing.
All water users are encouraged to voluntarily reduce water use and conserve water to the maximum extent possible.
All public supply water consumptive use permittees should institute or accelerate modifications to operational practices that can help manage demand and notify the District within 24 hours if the public supply water system experiences a sudden loss of its primary water supply or other significant change in system status.
Commercial/industrial/institutional users must suspend certain non-essential water uses.
All agricultural/commercial/In-dustrial/Institutional consumptive use permitees shall inform the District about any drought-related challenges with their water sup-plies.
Wasteful and unnecessary water use is prohibited.
Water users are also encouraged to proactively plan for extended dry conditions, and the potential for additional mandatory restrictions should the water shortage advance to a more severe phase.
Visit the Districts website at:
https://www.sjrwmd.com/
wateringrestrictions/
May 19, 2026
