Under SJRWMD’s Phase III order, Palm Coast homes water one day a week: Saturday for odd addresses, Sunday for even addresses, and Tuesday for businesses. No landscape watering is allowed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and each zone gets up to 1 hour or 3/4 inch on its day.
Key takeaways:
- Your day comes from the last digit of your house number: odd Saturday, even Sunday.
- Right now the daytime ban is 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. — wider than the standard 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. window.
- Each zone is capped at 1 hour or 3/4 inch on its day.
- Drip, hand watering with a shut-off nozzle, and short system tests are exempt.
- Wells follow the same days; retail reclaimed-water customers follow a separate schedule
Your Watering Day at a Glance
Find the last digit of your house number and match it to a day. A home numbered 27 waters on Saturday; a home numbered 40 waters on Sunday. Businesses, HOA common areas, and other nonresidential properties water on Tuesday.
| Your address ends in | Your watering day (Phase III, current) |
|---|---|
| Odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) | Saturday |
| Even number (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) | Sunday |
| Nonresidential property | Tuesday |
One day a week is the whole allowance: every zone shares that single day. If your controller still runs two days from an older program, delete the second day.
Current Restrictions by County
Phase III is a district order, not a Palm Coast-only rule, so it reaches across county lines — but not every nearby county is on the same order.
| Area | Current rule | Standard rule (when Phase III ends) |
|---|---|---|
| Palm Coast and Flagler County — SJRWMD Phase III, since May 2026 | Odd Saturday, even Sunday, nonresidential Tuesday; no watering 8 a.m.–6 p.m. | DST: odd Wed + Sat, even Thu + Sun, nonres. Tue + Fri; EST: odd Sat, even Sun, nonres. Tue; 10 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| St. Johns County — SJRWMD Phase III | Same Phase III days and ban as Palm Coast. | Same standard schedule as Palm Coast. |
| Putnam County (SJRWMD portions) — SJRWMD Phase III | Same Phase III days and ban as Palm Coast. | Same standard schedule as Palm Coast. |
| Volusia County (Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Port Orange) — county ordinance, NOT on the Phase III list | Standard schedule only (see next section). | Same as its current rule. |
The row that matters to Palm Coast homeowners is the first one, and its daytime ban is the wider one. Older pages on this site still quoted the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. window; that is the standard rule, not the rule in force today.
Standard Schedule When Phase III Ends
When SJRWMD lifts Phase III, the district returns to its standard schedule, which changes with daylight saving time. The idea stays the same — one day a week for homes — but the days spread out and the ban narrows to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
| Season | Odd addresses | Even addresses | Nonresidential | No watering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight saving time | Wednesday + Saturday | Thursday + Sunday | Tuesday + Friday | 10 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| Eastern standard time (from the first Sunday in November) | Saturday | Sunday | Tuesday | 10 a.m.–4 p.m. |
Do not program the standard schedule while Phase III is active. When the order lifts, this page will be updated the same day — that is the moment to reprogram, not before.
What's Exempt
Drip irrigation, micro-spray, micro-jet, and bubblers may run at any time — they put water at the plant, not across the lawn. Hand watering with a hose fitted with a shut-off nozzle may also run at any time. A system test or repair may run up to 20 minutes per zone, and watering in chemicals is allowed up to 1/4 inch within 24 hours. Drip irrigation is exempt from the watering-day schedule.
New sod and plants under Phase III (SJRWMD Water Shortage Order 2026-017): every day for the first 15 days, up to three days a week for the next 30 days, then two days a week for the final 15 days. That 60-day schedule replaces the standard 30-day any-time exemption while the order is active. Mark the planting date on the controller — guessing the phase is how new sod gets watered on the wrong days in week five.
Do the Rules Apply to Wells and Reclaimed Water?
Yes for wells, no — not the same schedule — for retail reclaimed water. Phase III covers private wells and pumps too: a well-fed system waters on the same Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday as a city-water system, under the same 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ban. The rule follows the watering, not the water source.
Retail reclaimed-water meter customers in Palm Coast are not bound by the Phase III schedule. That exemption is specific: it covers customers on a retail reclaimed meter, not everyone whose neighborhood has reclaimed lines. If you are unsure, check your utility bill for a reclaimed line item or call the utility before watering on a non-assigned day. Our reclaimed-water guide and well-vs-city-water guide cover each source in full.
Best Time to Water on Your Day
Water early in the morning, before 8 a.m., and finish before the daytime ban starts. Wind is usually lowest then, so spray lands where it was aimed; evaporation is lowest, so more of each inch reaches the roots; and grass dries during the day, which keeps fungus pressure down. Evening watering is the worst option: grass that stays wet overnight invites fungus.
On your day, the cap is 3/4 inch or 1 hour per zone, whichever comes first. Spray heads put down roughly 1.5 to 2 inches per hour, so the inch cap usually binds first; rotor zones are slower, roughly 0.5 to 1 inch per hour, so they may need most of the hour. If you do not know what your zones deliver, run a catch-cup test once: set out straight-sided cups, run the zone 15 minutes, measure, and multiply by four. Watering past the cap does not buy a greener lawn; on sandy soil it drains past the roots, and on any soil it invites the problems our over-irrigation guide describes.
How to Program Your Controller for One Watering Day
Start from a clean program: delete any second watering day left over from an older schedule, then follow the steps below. A smart irrigation controller can hold the same program and add rain skipping, but the day, start time, and cap are the same either way.
- Pick your day. Saturday for an odd address, Sunday for an even address, Tuesday for a nonresidential property.
- Set one early start time. Before 8 a.m. — 5:00 a.m. suits most homes — with zones running back to back from that single start.
- Cap every zone. 3/4 inch and never more than 1 hour, using the catch-cup rate for your heads.
- Order zones sensibly. Sunniest, driest zones first, so any shortfall hits the shadiest zone.
- Turn on seasonal adjust. Scale run times down in winter instead of watering a dormant lawn like it is July.
- Set the rain delay. Confirm the rain sensor works, so the controller skips the next cycle after rain on its own.
- Mark the daylight-saving change. When clocks change, check the day pattern against the standard table — while Phase III is active, the Phase III days govern.
Test the program by running it once and walking every zone. If your controller still offers a second program with different days, leave it empty — a forgotten Program B is the most common way a compliant system waters twice a week. Our automation guide covers controller swaps and sensor checks if the hardware itself is the problem.
Who to Call With Questions
For the rule itself, call the City of Palm Coast Customer Service at (386) 986-2360. For the district order behind it, cite SJRWMD Water Shortage Order 2026-017. For your own system — a controller that will not hold a program, a zone on the wrong day — call us at (386) 237-2983.
One thing this page deliberately leaves out: fines. The City publishes no fine schedule for watering violations, so any number quoted elsewhere is a guess. Follow the day and the window, and the question does not arise.
Three Mistakes That Break the Rule
First, the forgotten second program: Program A on Saturday plus an old Program B on Wednesday waters twice a week, and the homeowner only discovers it from a neighbor’s comment. Second, the seasonal-adjust trap: a controller left at 100% from July waters a dormant winter lawn at summer rates, blowing past the per-zone cap even though the day is right.
Third, the well assumption: a homeowner on a private well assumes district rules do not reach a private supply. They do — wells follow the same days and ban. Fix all three in one visit: clear Program B, set seasonal adjust, and confirm the day against the table at the top of this page. If freeze protection is also on your mind, keep the jobs separate: our winterize guide covers it, and it does not change your watering day.
Change Log
Updated October 2026: Phase III remains in effect. This page will be updated the same day SJRWMD changes the order, and again on each daylight-saving switch. If an older post quotes different days or hours, this page governs.
How the One-Day Limit Shapes Your Lawn Care
One day a week rewards deep, infrequent watering: a lawn watered to 3/4 inch once a week grows deeper roots than a lawn sprinkled lightly every day. Mowing height matters more under a one-day rule — St. Augustine kept at 3.5 to 4 inches needs less help from the controller than the same lawn cut short. If the lawn thins despite a correct program, the fault is usually coverage, pressure, or a valve — not the watering day. See our irrigation system maintenance page for what a technician checks on that visit.
Quick Checks Before Your Watering Day
Check 1: Is Today Your Day?
Match the last digit of your house number to Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday. If today is not your day, do not run the system except for a test or repair under 20 minutes per zone.
Check 2: Are You Inside the Window?
Under Phase III, no landscape watering runs between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Start before 8 a.m. and confirm the last zone finishes before the ban.
Check 3: Is Every Zone Under the Cap?
No zone runs more than 1 hour or past 3/4 inch on your day. Check the longest zone first — usually a rotor zone.
Keep This Page for the Next Rule Change
Bookmark this page, check it after any district announcement, and check it again on the first Sunday in November when standard time returns. If anything here disagrees with an older article, this dated, checked page is the one to follow.
Still Unsure About Your Day?
Call the City of Palm Coast at (386) 986-2360 for the rule, or call us at (386) 237-2983 for your system. Our sprinkler repair team in Palm Coast programs controllers to the current rule on every visit.
Need Your Controller Set to the Current Rules?
We program controllers across Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Ormond Beach, and Bunnell to the current watering days — one day, early start, every zone under the cap — and we check the rain sensor while we are there.
Call (386) 237-2983 for a controller reprogramming visit. Irrigation & Sprinkler by DreamScapes has served the area since 2015, with 930+ customers, from 15 Hargrove Ln, Unit 5D, Palm Coast, FL 32137. We respond within 24–48 hours.
