Hillsborough lifts water restrictions in south county
A 2-year limit on landscape irrigation expired Jan. 1.
The start of the new year meant the start of new water rules in fast-growing southern Hillsborough County.
The county ordinance limiting outdoor irrigation to one day a week expired Sunday. The temporary rules, approved by the County Commission in December 2020, were intended to offset what the county termed “dangerously low” water pressure in the southern part of the county utility system.
The low pressure, attributed to peak demand from landscape watering, raised having to issue possible boil water notices for customers or potentially hampering firefighting efforts in the region.
The rules were unpopular, in part, because they lumped long-established population centers together with the owners of newly built homes irrigating new sod and landscaping.