Watering Restrictions and the Rain Sensor Law in The Villages

Two separate sets of rules govern an in-ground sprinkler system in The Villages: when you’re allowed to water, set by your county’s water management district and enforced through the CDDs’ own schedule, and what your system is legally required to have installed, set by state law. Here is both, straight, with links to check the exact current version for your address.

Which water management district covers you

The Villages spans three counties, and each one answers to a different water management district for irrigation rules:

This mapping is stated directly by The Villages’ own Community Development Districts on their utilities page for the parts of Marion County inside The Villages: Lake County answers to St. Johns River, Sumter County and the Marion County portion of The Villages answer to Southwest Florida. Marion County itself is split between the two districts (SWFWMD’s own coverage area lists only the City of Dunnellon and The Villages within Marion County), and Summerfield is neither Dunnellon nor The Villages, so we are not asserting which district covers it. If you are not sure which county or district your specific address falls in, check your property tax bill, your utility bill, or your county’s water resources page.

The Villages’ own watering-day schedule

Beyond the water management district framework, The Villages CDDs publish their own watering-day schedule for residents, and it runs on two different systems depending on where you live:

• Districts 1 through 4 and the unincorporated Lady Lake/Lake County area: your watering day is set by whether your home address ends in an odd or even number. Under Eastern Standard Time, even-ending addresses water Sunday and odd-ending addresses water Saturday. Under Daylight Saving Time, even-ending addresses shift to Thursday and Sunday, odd-ending to Wednesday and Saturday.
• Districts 5 through 14: your watering day is set by your lot number, not your address, on a grid that assigns different day/time pairs to different lot-number cohorts across each district.
• Hours, everywhere: watering may only occur before 10am or after 4pm on your scheduled day. Fountains, car washing, and pressure washing have no restriction, and exemptions exist for newly planted material.

Because the lot-number system alone spans 14-plus districts with their own grids, we are not going to guess your exact day here. Look up your own district’s current schedule at districtgov.org/services/utilities/irrigation-schedules.

A live restriction is in effect right now, as of September 24, 2026: the standing odd/even and lot-number schedule above is currently suspended, not active. Southwest Florida Water Management District has a Modified Phase III “Extreme” Water Shortage order in effect for Sumter County, portions of Lake County, and the Marion County portion of The Villages, watering limited to one day a week set by the last digit of your street address (0/1 Monday, 2/3 Tuesday, 4/5 Wednesday, 6/7 Thursday, 8/9 Friday), between 12:01am-4am or 8pm-11:59pm. The district’s board extended this order on September 22, 2026 to run through March 31, 2027. Separately, St. Johns River Water Management District has its own Phase III order covering the rest of Lake County (including District 14 and the Village Center Service Area), one day a week with different hours, before 8am or after 6pm. Restriction levels and end dates like these change, so check districtgov.org/whats-happening plus swfwmd.state.fl.us or sjrwmd.com for whichever district applies to you before assuming either the standard schedule or the specific dates above are still current.

Why this matters for a repair call

A controller that loses its program, whether from a power blip, a dead backup battery, or a factory reset, does not just water badly. It can put your system out of compliance with your own district’s watering-day rule without you realizing it, since the factory default schedule almost never matches your assigned day. If your controller’s display looks unfamiliar or the days look wrong compared to what your neighbors are running, that is worth a controller check, not just a guess-and-reprogram.

Florida’s rain sensor law

Separately from watering days, Florida Statute 373.62 sets a state-level equipment requirement: any automatic landscape irrigation system must have “technology that inhibits or interrupts operation of the system during periods of sufficient moisture,” meaning a rain sensor, a soil moisture sensor, or an equivalent shutoff. This has applied to systems purchased and installed since 1991 and has been broadened since to cover ongoing maintenance and operation, not just the original install.

The statute also puts a specific obligation on contractors: “A licensed contractor who installs or performs work on an automatic landscape irrigation system must test for the correct operation of each inhibiting or interrupting device or switch on that system,” and must install or repair one that is missing or not working before finishing any other work on the system. In plain terms: if your rain sensor is dead or missing, a tech working on your system is required to fix that first, not leave it for later.

Local governments that adopt the statute’s model ordinance can also fine a non-compliant system, up to $250 for a repeat violation, though enforcement varies by jurisdiction. Separately, the law creates a variance process for homeowners with certified soil-moisture-sensor systems that lets those systems skip day-of-week restrictions specifically, under monitoring by the HOA, CDD, or utility.

What a rain sensor failure actually looks like

A rain sensor that fails “stuck wet” is one of the most common causes of a system that appears to stop working entirely, since it sits in the same circuit that powers every zone valve, and it can look like a total system failure rather than a small sensor problem. One that fails “stuck dry” or comes disconnected has the opposite, quieter effect: the system keeps running through real rain, which shows up as a water bill that does not make sense for the weather. See our rain sensor not stopping the system page if that is what you are seeing, or the rain sensor installation page for what a replacement costs.

Questions about your specific address, district, or controller? Check the FAQ, or tell us what your system is doing and we will sort out both the compliance side and the repair.