Orlando Water Restrictions: Lake County’s Extreme Shortage Order Lifted, Once-a-Week Winter Watering Stays

ENVIRONMENT · WATER

Lake County is out from under an extreme water shortage. In an order issued November 9, 2026, the St. Johns River Water Management District rescinded the Phase III Extreme Water Shortage declaration it had placed on Lake County in May — one of eight counties the district released from the declaration after a wetter autumn raised groundwater and surface-water levels.

What has not changed is the winter watering calendar. The district’s standard restrictions are still mandatory, and during Eastern Standard Time they allow one landscape-watering day a week. On November 12 the district issued a reminder to exactly that effect: irrigation is now limited to once per week for the winter season.

What changed on November 9

The district’s order (F.O.R. No. 2026-0005), signed by Executive Director Michael A. Register and effective immediately on execution, rescinds the Phase III order as to Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties. Three of those counties — Alachua, Baker and Bradford — step down only to a Modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage, which remains in effect there. Lake County and the other seven come off shortage declarations entirely.

The Phase III declaration had been in place since May 11, 2026, when Lake County was added to the shortage map. The district’s stated reason for lifting it is rain: the order finds that “because of the overall increase in rainfall, which has raised groundwater and surface water levels, there is no longer a need for a Water Shortage Declaration” in Lake and the other released counties, and that conditions there have “improved sufficiently to warrant rescission.” The counties that stay under Phase II are the ones where the numbers still lag — the order notes past-year rainfall under 40 inches in Bradford County and groundwater at or below the 15th percentile at monitoring sites in Baker County, measured in the first days of November.

The watering days that still apply

Under the district’s year-round watering restrictions — the schedule now governing the Lake County areas that were under the order — Eastern Standard Time (the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March) watering days are:

• Homes with odd-numbered or no addresses: Saturday
• Homes with even-numbered addresses: Sunday
• Nonresidential properties: Tuesday

Water only when needed, never between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and for no more than one hour per zone. The restrictions apply to private wells and pumps, ground and surface water, and public and private utility water alike. One practical difference from the lifted order: notices issued under the Phase III declaration barred watering between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; the standard district window is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The district also urges residents to inspect irrigation systems and repair broken or misaligned sprinkler heads, and points to WaterLessFlorida.com for conservation guidance. Lake County readers can browse the Citizen’s Mount Dora hub for coverage of the county’s lake country.

Who was never in this order

Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties do not appear in any of the district’s 2026 shortage orders — the declarations ran north and west of the Orlando core, plus Lake County. If you water a lawn in Orlando, the November 9 order changes nothing for you; the once-a-week winter schedule above is the same standard district schedule that already applied. The full picture of this desk’s water coverage is in the Environment archive, and the same springs these rules protect are the subject of our Central Florida springs guide and today’s report on manatee season at Blue Spring.

Sources & notes

• St. Johns River Water Management District — Water Shortage Order F.O.R. No. 2026-0005, issued November 9, 2026 (rescission for Lake and seven other counties; Modified Phase II continued for Alachua, Baker and Bradford; findings on rainfall and groundwater; Phase III history from May 11, 2026).
• St. Johns River Water Management District — news release, “District scales back drought restrictions in North Florida, reminds residents of once-a-week irrigation schedule,” November 12, 2026.
• St. Johns River Water Management District — Watering Restrictions page, checked November 15, 2026 (standard Eastern Standard Time days, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. prohibited window, one-hour-per-zone limit, sources covered).
• Town of Montverde — Water Conservation & Irrigation Schedule page, checked November 15, 2026 (the Phase III order’s 8 a.m.–6 p.m. prohibited window as applied in Lake County).

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