Arlington Water Restrictions 2026
Tarrant County · Texas
Published:
Restrictions Active - Stage 1 Year-Round Watering Schedule (twice weekly by address)
2
Days/Week
Before 10:00 a.m.
Allowed Hours
Up to $2,000 per offense (Class C misdemeanor); typical first written citation runs $250 with each day of violation charged as a separate offense
Max Fine
Find Your Watering Day
Enter the last digit of your street address:
View full address schedule table
| Address Ending | Watering Day |
|---|---|
| even | Wednesday & Saturday |
| odd | Thursday & Sunday |
| commercial | Tuesday & Friday |
Allowed Watering Hours
Arlington Water Utilities enforces a Stage 1 schedule year-round under its TRWD wholesale framework. Residential addresses ending in an even digit may run automatic sprinklers on Wednesdays and Saturdays; addresses ending in an odd digit run on Thursdays and Sundays. Commercial and multifamily accounts are restricted to Tuesdays and Fridays. On every assigned day the 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. blackout window applies, which is the most strictly observed April through October when DFW evaporative loss spikes above 70 percent during midday irrigation.
Still Allowed
💧 Hand Watering
Allowed with shut-off nozzle. Hours: Hand watering with a handheld hose fitted with a positive shut-off nozzle, soaker hose, or drip line is permitted any day of the week, but the 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. blackout still applies to those methods..
🌿 Drip Irrigation
Exempt from day-of-week limits. Must follow allowed hours.
Fines & Enforcement
Up to $2,000 per offense (Class C misdemeanor); typical first written citation runs $250 with each day of violation charged as a separate offense
Initial observation usually results in a door-hanger warning from Arlington Water Utilities or Code Compliance. Repeat violations escalate to municipal court citations, and the city's Water and Sewer ordinance treats each calendar day of non-compliance as a separately chargeable Class C misdemeanor.
Citations begin Year-round Stage 1 in continuous effect🏠 HOA Rules During Restrictions
Texas Property Code Section 202.007 prohibits HOAs from penalizing homeowners who let turf go dormant or brown while complying with a municipal drought stage. HOAs in Arlington neighborhoods such as Viridian and Pantego-adjacent subdivisions cannot require irrigation beyond the city-allowed two days per week.
If your homeowners association sends a violation notice for a dormant or brown lawn during the current restriction period, respond in writing citing the applicable law and include a copy of the Arlington Water Utilities's current restriction order. Most HOAs will rescind the notice once they are made aware of the legal protections in place. If the issue persists, contact your county’s code enforcement division for assistance.
Why These Restrictions Exist
Texas water policy is coordinated statewide by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and enforced under Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) rules that require every retail utility to maintain an approved Drought Contingency Plan. North Central Texas has cycled through repeated drought designations on the U.S. Drought Monitor, and DFW utilities have made year-round two-day-per-week watering the regional baseline rather than an emergency response.
Arlington Water Utilities serves roughly 395,000 residents across the city and operates under a permanent Stage 1 conservation framework. The utility does not own a raw-water source of its own; instead it purchases treated and raw water wholesale from the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD), the same wholesale partner that supplies Fort Worth, Mansfield, and dozens of smaller North Texas customers.
TRWD's supply portfolio is built around four owned reservoirs: Lake Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Lake on the West Fork Trinity, plus Cedar Creek Reservoir and Richland-Chambers Reservoir to the southeast, with additional terminal storage at Lake Worth, Lake Benbrook, and Lake Arlington. Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers together provide 80 to 85 percent of the water delivered to TRWD's primary wholesale customers in a typical year. Arlington is paired tightly with Fort Worth in this wholesale framework, which is why both cities publish nearly identical Stage 1 schedules.
Locally, Arlington's water demand is shaped by major venues that draw regional crowds: AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field, and Texas Live!, alongside the University of Texas at Arlington campus and the Six Flags entertainment district. The city sits geographically and hydrologically between Dallas Water Utilities (which serves Dallas, Irving, and Grand Prairie east of Arlington) and Fort Worth's TRWD supply to the west, making conservation compliance here a linchpin for the broader DFW metroplex water budget.
This deficit has accumulated over the current water year and represents a significant departure from historical averages for the Arlington area. Water supply reservoirs and aquifer levels are well below seasonal targets, necessitating mandatory conservation measures.
How to Keep Your Lawn Alive During Arlington Water Restrictions
11 tips tailored for Arlington homeowners during Stage 1 Year-Round Watering Schedule (twice weekly by address) restrictions.
Bermudagrass is the dominant warm-season turf in Arlington and tolerates the two-day Stage 1 schedule well once it has rooted into the city's heavy Blackland and Eastland clay soils.
Zoysia lawns common in newer Viridian and southwest Arlington developments need slightly deeper, less frequent cycles; aim for 1 inch total per week split across the two assigned days.
St. Augustine in shaded older neighborhoods near UTA and Pantego is the thirstiest option and is most likely to thin under Stage 1; consider overseeding bare patches with Bermuda in late spring.
Use the cycle-and-soak method on any sprinkler zone: run 8 to 10 minutes, pause an hour, run again, so water actually penetrates DFW clay instead of running off into the storm drain.
Aerate compacted clay every fall; Arlington's expansive soils swell and shrink seasonally, sealing the surface against irrigation; core aeration restores infiltration.
Mulch beds 3 inches deep with shredded hardwood; this single change cuts bed irrigation needs in half during the April-October blackout-window months.
Set mower height to 3 to 3.5 inches for Bermuda and 3.5 to 4 inches for St. Augustine; taller blades shade roots and slow evaporation in 100-degree-plus summer heat.
Install a WaterMyYard or Arlington Water Utilities-recommended Wi-Fi controller with an ET (evapotranspiration) sensor; Arlington offers rebates that offset most of the hardware cost.
Check sprinkler heads monthly; a single broken or tilted head can dump 200 gallons in one cycle and is the most common cause of Stage 1 citations.
Replace turf strips along driveways and curbs with native Texas plants like Mexican feathergrass, blackfoot daisy, autumn sage, or Texas sage; these survive on rainfall once established.
Time stadium-event weekends carefully: many Arlington homeowners host overnight guests during Cowboys or Rangers games, but laundry and shower demand still has to coexist with the two-day outdoor schedule; shift irrigation to the early-morning hour before 10 a.m.
Arlington Water Restriction FAQs
What days can I water my lawn in Arlington?
What hours can I run my sprinklers in Arlington?
What are the fines for water violations in Arlington?
Can I install new sod or seed in Arlington during restrictions?
When will water restrictions end in Arlington?
What is Arlington's current Stage 1 watering schedule?
Where does Arlington's water actually come from?
Do AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field events change the watering rules?
What is the fine for violating Stage 1 in Arlington?
When could Arlington escalate from Stage 1 to Stage 2 or beyond?
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