When a community keeps exceeding its water use permit.

The permit in plain terms

A Florida community that irrigates from its own wells, lakes or canals generally needs a permit from its water management district. The St. Johns River Water Management District calls it a consumptive use permit (CUP). The South Florida, Southwest Florida and Northwest Florida districts call it a water use permit. The idea is the same: the permit sets how much water the community may withdraw, usually as an annual quantity and a peak-month limit, and attaches conditions — metering, reporting on a schedule, conservation measures, and an expiration date when it must be renewed.

The quantities in the permit were usually set when the community was designed, from the irrigated acreage, the plant material and the water source the engineer expected. The community the district is measuring today rarely matches that drawing exactly.

Why communities run over

• Most of the water runs through lots the association does not control. Homeowner controllers are set by owners, renters and investors — many of them out of state or out of the country — and nearly every owner believes the lawn needs more water, not less.
• Schedules do not follow the seasons. A schedule set for May and still running in December is a common cause of a high annual total.
• Rain and soil moisture sensors fail, so systems run through the rain.
• Leaks and mainline breaks run for days before anyone sees them, most of them at night.
• The irrigated area grows after the permit is written: new phases, amenity areas, re-landscaping.
• Water shortage orders tighten watering days mid-year while the controllers stay the same.
• One pump meter. It tells the board how much the community used. It cannot say where the water went.

What happens when the numbers are over

The district compares the community’s reported use with its allocation. When a community runs over, the first sign is usually a letter from the district’s compliance staff asking what happened and what will be done about it. Repeated or unresolved overages can lead to consent orders and penalties, become part of the permit’s public record, and complicate the next renewal. Most boards first hear about the problem when that letter arrives — months after the water was used.

District by district

• St. Johns River Water Management District — northeast and east-central Florida. Issues consumptive use permits.
• South Florida Water Management District — south Florida and the Kissimmee basin, including parts of the Orlando area. Many permits report monthly through the District’s ePermitting system; some also carry quarterly reports, water-quality sampling and monitoring-well conditions.
• Southwest Florida Water Management District — west-central Florida. Has issued water shortage orders that restrict watering days; a community can petition the District for a variance from an order’s watering schedule.
• Northwest Florida Water Management District — the Panhandle.
• Central Florida Water Initiative — where the St. Johns, South Florida and Southwest Florida districts meet around Orlando, permits follow one uniform set of rules (Chapter 62-41, Florida Administrative Code).

How we bring a community back inside the allocation

• Track. The allocation is set up as a rolling 12-month total against the annual and peak-month limits, with alerts at 80, 90 and 100 percent. On homeowner lots, a meter on every home, read every day.
• Identify. Where the water is going: common areas versus homes, schedules that drifted, sensors that failed, leaks.
• Educate. Owners are shown what their lawn actually needs. Boards and managers get the numbers in plain terms. Contractors get specific instructions.
• Correct. Schedules reset to the season and to the district’s rules; controller-to-valve faults fixed by our technicians when they are beyond the contractor.
• Represent. Reports filed on the permit’s calendar, responses to district letters, renewals and variance petitions, as the owner’s authorized agent before all four districts.

What to have ready for a first conversation

• The permit number and its conditions
• The last 12 months of reported use
• Any letters from the district
• A list of the controllers and who sets each one