What should our HOA board do when the city puts drought watering restrictions in place?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 18, 2026

How an HOA board handles drought watering restrictions: get the rules for its meters, save trees first, reset controllers, pause brown-lawn fines, tell owners.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

When your water provider declares a drought stage, the association has two jobs. On its own common area, it has to stop watering anything the new rules don't allow, starting with the next scheduled cycle. As the body that enforces landscaping rules, it has to stop fining owners for brown grass. Do it in this order. Get the restriction in writing for the association's own meters, which may follow a different schedule from the houses. Decide what to keep alive, with trees at the top of the list. Reprogram every controller and change the landscaping scope. Suspend green-lawn enforcement by board vote, and send owners a short notice. Most of that fits in the first week. Rules vary by water provider, by state and by your governing documents, so treat this as education, not legal advice.

Get the rule that applies to the association's meters

Texas requires these plans. Water Code section 11.1272 directs the state to make wholesale and retail public water suppliers adopt drought contingency plans, and each plan must include quantified water use reduction targets and enforcement procedures, which can include fines, rate surcharges, restriction of service or shutoff. Your utility's plan sets the stages and what each one allows. Common area meters often fall on their own schedule. Under Austin Water's Conservation Stage, in effect since September 2, 2025, HOAs share a schedule with public schools and golf course fairways. Automatic and manual irrigation systems run on Monday only, while hose-end sprinklers and drip may run Monday and Thursday. Scheduled watering has to happen between midnight and 10 a.m. or between 7 p.m. and midnight, and violations can cost up to $1,000 each. In the Southwest Florida Water Management District's 2026 Modified Phase III order, extended through October 1, 2026, everyone watered one day a week, and locations without a discernible address, which describes many entrance and common areas, watered on Friday. Denver Water declared Stage 1 on March 25, 2026, to run through April 30, 2027, and its board ended spray irrigation and lawn watering on October 1, 2026, under Board Resolution 002a-2026. Its drought page lists charges of up to $2,000, and repeat violations can lead to a flow restrictor or a shutoff. Call the utility and ask five questions. Which schedule applies to each association account? Are drip and bubblers treated differently from spray? Can trees and shrubs be hand watered, and when? Is there a variance for large properties? What does a violation cost the account holder? Write the answers down and put the schedule in each controller cabinet.

Decide what to keep alive, and in what order

A mature shade tree takes decades to replace. Turf can be reseeded in a season. So trees come first, then shrubs and perennial beds, then the turf people actually use, such as the playground lawn and the pool deck lawn. Everything else can go dormant. Walk the property with the landscaper and mark each zone keep, reduce or off on the irrigation map. State forestry agencies give watering amounts by trunk diameter, measured about six inches above the ground. The Colorado State Forest Service recommends 10 gallons per inch of diameter once a week for trees with 1 to 3 inch trunks, 10 gallons per inch three times a month for 4 to 9 inch trunks, and 15 gallons per inch twice a month for trees over 10 inches. It says to soak the whole area under the branches, slowly, and to lay organic mulch over bare soil, kept off the trunk. The Texas A&M Forest Service says young trees in a normal summer need 2 to 3 gallons per inch two to three times a week, and that in extreme drought they can survive on half that, once a week. The two agencies write for different climates, so follow your own state's guidance or an arborist's advice. Check your utility's rules for the method. Austin allows tree watering at any time with a tree watering bag, soaker hose or bubbler, and Denver allows trees and shrubs to be watered any day with a hand-held hose that has a shutoff nozzle, or with non-spray drip.

Reprogram the system and change the landscaping scope

The association is the customer on its meters, so a controller still running last month's schedule earns the violation, not the landscaper. Have the contractor reprogram each controller within days of the announcement and send the board a photo of every program screen. Shut off spray zones the stage no longer allows. Move tree and bed zones to drip or bubblers where the rules favor them. Read each meter the morning after the first allowed watering day, then again a week later. Usage on a day the system should be off points to a stuck valve or a forgotten program. Then look at the contract. Mowing a dormant lawn every week wastes money, while hand watering trees takes labor the contract may not cover. Ask for a written change order that moves dollars from mowing to tree care, and approve it at a board meeting. Our guide on cutting the common area water bill with an irrigation audit covers leaks, pressure and controllers, the work that makes each allowed gallon count. If part of the property can't be covered in the allowed hours, ask about a variance. Austin offers a large property variance and several others through its Conservation Hub, and you have to follow the current restrictions until one is approved. Denver handles new sod and seed through watering establishment permits, which it stopped issuing after September 30, 2026, until further notice.

Stop fining owners for brown lawns

In all three states, the law limits what the board can demand while restrictions are on. Texas. Property Code section 202.008, effective September 1, 2025, bars an association from fining an owner under a covenant that requires grass or green vegetation, or prohibits brown or discolored turf, while the owner's property is under a drought watering restriction and until the 60th day after it is lifted. Colorado. C.R.S. 37-60-126(11)(c) lets a board act against an owner who lets landscaping die or go dormant, but no enforcement may require watering in violation of the local restrictions. Enforcement has to be consistent across the community, and an owner whose turf died from too little water must get a reasonable chance to reseed and revive it before being required to lay new sod. Florida. Section 720.3075(4)(b) says HOA documents may not create a requirement that conflicts with a water shortage order. The Southwest Florida district's 2026 orders went further and barred any HOA from enforcing deed restrictions or community standards requiring an increase in water use, including replacing plants to meet aesthetic standards or pressure washing. The simplest step is a board vote that pauses green-lawn and replacement-planting violations for the length of the restriction plus a recovery window, with mowing, weeds and trash still enforced. Our guide on whether an HOA can make you water your lawn during a drought covers the owner's side.

Wording the board can copy

A motion: 'I move that, effective today and until [60 days, or a longer period the board sets] after [water provider] lifts its drought watering restrictions, the association suspend enforcement of any rule requiring green turf, irrigation or replacement of plant material on owner lots; that violations already open on those grounds be closed without fines; and that rules on mowing, weeds, debris and dead trees remain in force.' An owner notice: '[Water provider] has moved to [stage], effective [date]. Lots on even addresses may water on [days], odd addresses on [days], and only between [hours]. The association will not cite or fine any owner for a brown or dormant lawn until [date]. Please keep lawns mowed and beds free of weeds. On the common areas, we are watering trees and shrubs first and letting most turf go dormant, so the entrance will look dry this season. That is deliberate. Questions go to [contact].'

A sample timeline

Day 0: the utility announces the stage. The board president forwards it to directors and the landscaper. Days 1 to 3: get the schedule for each association account in writing and walk the property to mark zones keep, reduce or off. Before the first allowed watering day: the landscaper reprograms every controller and sends photos of the program screens. Within the first week: hold a board meeting with whatever notice your bylaws and state law require, adopt the enforcement pause and the change order, and send the owner notice. After each of the first two allowed watering days: read the meters. Monthly: the treasurer reports water use against the same month last year, and the landscaper reports tree condition. When the stage lifts: keep the pause running through the recovery window, plan reseeding for the next good growing season, and put tree replacement and turf repair into the next budget.

Mistakes that cost money or trees

Watering common areas on the street-address schedule when the utility assigns association meters different days. Letting trees go dry to keep the entrance lawn green. Writing up owners for brown grass, which in Texas or under a Florida order can't be enforced, and which owners remember at the next election. Replanting or laying sod during the restriction, when the new plants need more water than anything else on the property. Pressure washing buildings and walks in a Florida water shortage without checking the order. Forgetting to restore the normal schedule and lift the pause in writing when the restriction ends, so nobody knows which rules are in force. If the board wants to cut turf for good, our guide on converting common area turf to water-wise landscaping walks through the plan, the permits and the cost.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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