Lawn watering restrictions — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian homes at odd numbered addresses may water lawns on Wednesday and Saturday, and even numbered or unnumbered addresses on Thursday and Sunday.

The City of Sebastian assigns watering days by house number. Landscape irrigation at odd numbered addresses must only occur on Wednesday and Saturday, and landscape irrigation at even numbered addresses or no address must only occur on Thursday and Sunday. On every one of those days, sprinklers in Sebastian must stay off between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (City of Sebastian).

In practice that means a house on an odd numbered lot in the Sebastian Highlands runs its timer on Wednesday and Saturday mornings or evenings, and an even numbered house on the same street waters Thursday and Sunday. The split spreads demand on Indian River County Utilities, which states that it provides water, wastewater and reuse service to a major portion of the county, including the City of Sebastian.

The schedule applies to landscape irrigation, the lawns, shrubs and beds around Sebastian homes, and the ordinance behind it carries its own exceptions, variances and enforcement provisions. Last verified: October 10, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.

Sebastian's watering days come from a city ordinance amended to comply with St. Johns River Water Management District regulations.

The days are not a Sebastian invention. The city page states that the City of Sebastian has adopted an amended water restriction ordinance to comply with new St. Johns River Water Management District regulations. Sebastian sits at the southern edge of that district: Vero News reported in 2011 that the district oversees water use in 15 eastern and central Florida counties from the Georgia border to Indian River County.

The full text sits in the Water Restriction Plan, an article in the utilities chapter of the Sebastian Code of Ordinances, and the city's Stormwater Division site carries the same schedule and sends questions to its Clean Water Program coordinator. That placement reflects how utilities are split in Sebastian: the city runs drainage through Public Works, while drinking water comes from the county, so the watering page lives with the Stormwater Division rather than a city water department.

Water itself comes from the county. Indian River County Utilities lists a customer service office at Sebastian Corners Plaza, 1921 US Highway 1, and notes that the residents it does not serve rely on private wells and septic tanks, the City of Vero Beach Utilities or the City of Fellsmere Utilities. The county also keeps a separate Chapter 202 Reclaimed Water Use ordinance for reuse water lines.

The schedule on the City of Sebastian page does not change with the seasons. The district's own rule, as quoted in its May 2026 shortage order, defines a separate Eastern Standard Time schedule of one day a week, Saturday for odd numbered addresses, Sunday for even numbered addresses and Tuesday for non-residential property. Sebastian's posted rule lists only the Wednesday, Saturday, Thursday and Sunday pattern.

Sebastian lets heat pump discharge water be used on lawns at any time, and Florida law requires a rain shutoff device on every automatic sprinkler system.

One exception is written into the city page directly. Air conditioning systems utilizing water source heat pumps shall be permitted to utilize the discharge water of said system for irrigation purposes at any time, the City of Sebastian states, notwithstanding any other provision of the watering article.

State law adds a hardware requirement that applies to every Sebastian sprinkler system. Under Florida Statutes section 373.62, any person who purchases and installs an automatic landscape irrigation system must properly install, maintain and operate technology that inhibits or interrupts operation of the system during periods of sufficient moisture, the rain or soil moisture shutoff. A licensed contractor working on a system must test that device and repair or replace it before finishing other work. The statute's model ordinance sets minimum penalties for contractors of $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second and $250 for a third.

The city reserves the right to go further. City Council can further the restriction when needed by adoption of a resolution declaring an emergency, according to the Sebastian watering page, so the Sebastian City Council does not need to rewrite the ordinance to respond to a local water emergency.

The 2026 drought brought a Phase III water shortage order to 11 northeast and central Florida counties, but Indian River County and Sebastian were not included.

The 2026 dry season was severe across the Treasure Coast. WPTV reported in February 2026 that extreme drought had spread across the region, and that portions of northwest Indian River County were among the few areas in its viewing area under severe rather than extreme drought.

The water management district responded farther north. On May 11, 2026, the St. Johns River Water Management District issued a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage order for Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties. Indian River County was not on that list, and the City of Sebastian page continued to show the two day schedule as of October 10, 2026. In the listed counties, residential irrigation dropped to one day a week year round, Saturday for odd addresses, Sunday for even addresses and Tuesday for non-residential property, with no watering from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Shortages have reached Indian River County utilities before. In April 2024 the City of Vero Beach, the other large water provider in the county, asked customers who irrigate with potable water to refrain from doing so over the weekend from April 19 through April 22 because of high demand, CBS12 reported. Vero News described the 2010 to 2011 dry season as the driest on record in Vero, with 11.98 inches of rain from October 1, only 40 percent of normal.

Watering rules in Indian River County, including Sebastian, have been enforced by local police with a warning for a first offense and fines after that.

The district rule has long relied on warnings first. In the June 2011 Vero News report, a St. Johns River Water Management District spokesman said its year round rule restricts lawn watering and other landscape irrigation to one day a week in the dry season and two days a week during the rainy season, enforced by local police. First offenders receive a warning; second offenses drew a $50 fine and third offenses up to $500 at that time. More than 900 people across the district had been warned since July 2009.

The 2026 Phase III order shows how enforcement widens in an emergency. It names every state and county attorney, sheriff, police officer and other appropriate city and county official as having authority to enforce the order. Indian River County was not named in that order, so its enforcement terms did not reach Sebastian.

No, Florida law bars any Sebastian homeowners association from enforcing deed restrictions that conflict with district watering rules or block Florida-friendly landscaping.

No. Homeowners associations in Sebastian and elsewhere in Indian River County cannot write their way around state water law. Under Florida Statutes section 373.185, a deed restriction or covenant may not prohibit any property owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping, and may not create any requirement in conflict with a water shortage order or district rule. A Sebastian association that demands green turf in a dry spell cannot force an owner to water outside the assigned days.

The 2026 Phase III order made the same point in plain terms for the northern counties, stating that no person or entity, like a homeowners association or property manager, shall enforce any deed restrictions or other community standards that would cause a violation. If the district ever extends a shortage order to Indian River County, the same bar would apply to associations in and around Sebastian.