Water is limited after an especially dry year, putting the greater Tampa Bay region in one of the worst water shortages in five decades.
"We're asking the public to step up and conserve water," said Tampa Bay Water's chief science officer Warren Hogg. "Help us extend our reservoir storage until we get to the rainy season."
On Tuesday, the Southwest Florida Water Management District announced a stricter "phase three" level of outdoor watering restrictions, as the region continues to experience a drought.
Find the restrictions and rules: Stricter outdoor watering restrictions are coming due to ongoing drought
Residents who live in the Tampa Bay area, as well as some surrounding counties, will be limited to watering their lawns once a week from April 3 to July 1.
Counties and cities may have their own restrictions in place already.
Regular afternoon showers that help replenish the region's rivers typically pick up around late May or early June.
Because of the current drought, river water, which makes up 40% of the region's drinking water, is not an available source right now. That's according to Tampa Bay Water, which services Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties.
The cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and New Port Richey also receive water from the supplier.
River flow has dropped dramatically, according to Hogg. The Hillsborough River is about 18 to 19 million gallons a day lower than it should be.
In these conditions, Tampa Bay Water relies on what's in our reservoirs, desalination plant and ground wells, said Hogg.
The C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir stores excess water from the Hillsborough and Alafia rivers during the rainy summer season and saves it for the dry spring season.
"That's our water savings account," said Hogg.
But that savings account is running low. The reservoir can hold up to 15.5 billion gallons. It currently has about 6 billion.
Check current reservoir levels
Average rainfall was more than a foot short over the last year, which meant the region was drawing from the reservoir's supply much earlier than usual.
At this time of year, we'd ideally want around 10 billion gallons in the reservoir, Hogg said.
While we can still turn to the desalination plant and ground wells, Hogg said it could mean drawing over the permit limit.
"We won't run out, but we're in danger of taking more from the environment than we're allowed," said Hogg.
Ground wells extract water from the aquifer, underground layers of rock and sand that hold water. Most of the population gets their drinking water from the aquifer, which is replenished by rain.
The Floridan aquifer, which is the largest in the southeast, faces threats of over-extraction, saltwater intrusion and rising sea levels.
"The environment suffers when you take too much from the environment for a long period of time," said Hogg. "We have the pumps and the pipes to make sure that we will meet the public's need. We're just asking the public to help us out and conserve water this spring."
That can mean taking shorter showers, turning the faucet off when you brush your teeth or turning the sprinkler system off when it rains, said Hogg.
About half of all the water used by residents goes towards lawn care, according to the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
Michele Hopkins, the district's regulation division director, said it's too early to tell if the drought will worsen and trigger a more severe level of restrictions, which can mean surcharges on water usage enacted by utility companies.
Hopkins said they'll continue to monitor river flows, rainfall and overall water supply. She said the next month is expected to be dry, but we could start to see some rain in May.
"We want to be in a good position as we move out of this year's wet season and into next year's dry season," said Hopkins. "We want to be able to be in a stronger position with resources that are available."
