Clay County, FL Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

Division 2 of the landscaping chapter implements St. Johns River Water Management District water-conservation goals countywide under Sec. 5-71. window and capped at three-quarters of an inch per zone per watering, run no more than one hour per zone. Once Eastern Standard Time begins, the schedule drops to a single day each week: Saturday for odd addresses, Sunday for even addresses, and Tuesday for nonresidential accounts, under Sec. 5-73. Sec. 5-74 exempts micro-spray, drip, and bubbler systems from the schedule entirely, allows unrestricted watering of new landscaping for an initial thirty days and every-other-day watering for the next thirty, permits hand-watering with an automatic shutoff nozzle anytime, and allows reclaimed or recycled pond water without day restrictions.

Anyone who installs an automatic irrigation system must also fit and maintain a rain shutoff device under Sec. 5-75. The Board of Adjustment can grant a hardship variance from the specific watering days under Sec. 5-76, but even with a variance no single zone may be irrigated more than twice a week during Daylight Saving Time or once a week during Eastern Standard Time.