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Water District Tightens Lawn Irrigation Restrictions

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

Homeowners wanting to replace their lawns will have to wait until after June 30 to put in the sod unless the work was scheduled before Oct. 28.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2008

TAMPA - New rules imposed Tuesday that essentially bar homeowners from replacing sod on their lawns come at the best time of year to put in new sod, when the grass would require less water than in the summer.

The board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District now bars homeowners from watering sod every day for 30 days, which is done to let the new grass develop roots and become established.

That means anyone who replaces their lawn can water the new grass once a week, the same restriction applied to existing lawns.

The tougher restriction does not apply to new lawns for construction or road rights of way. They can be watered daily for the first 30 days and every other day for the next 30.

Homeowners wanting to replace their lawns will have to wait until after June 30 to put in the sod unless the work was scheduled before Oct. 28.

The timing of the tighter rule is wrong for saving water, said Frank Favata, owner of Jimmy's Sod in Tampa.

Replacing sod now requires less water than in the summer, when evaporation removes more water and the heat puts more stress on the grass, he said.

In the cooler weather, new sod could get by on water every other day for the first 30 days and then do fine with water once a week.

"You don't need 30 days," Favata said. "There is less stress this time of year. The cooler months are the best."

The rules don't ban replacement lawns, but the restriction on watering will, in effect, prevent people from replanting lawns.

That is another blow to a sod industry already hammered by the crash of home construction.

"It's not fair that they just target one industry," Favata said.

The regulation adopted Tuesday is another in a series of restrictions the water district has imposed that includes watering only once a week, running decorative fountains only eight hours a day and limiting car washing to once a week.

Also, the water management district wants city and county utilities to eliminate any warnings for violations of the watering rules and issue fines for the first offense.

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