{"id":15080,"date":"2026-03-06T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampabaywater.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=15080"},"modified":"2026-03-17T13:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:01:03","slug":"tampa-bay-region-enters-extreme-regional-water-supply-shortage-tampa-bay-water-asking-residents-to-step-up-and-save-water","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.tampabaywater.org\/news\/tampa-bay-region-enters-extreme-regional-water-supply-shortage-tampa-bay-water-asking-residents-to-step-up-and-save-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Region Enters Extreme Regional Water Supply Shortage - Tampa Bay Water Asking Residents to Step Up and Save Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span class=\"newsRelease\"><span style=\"text-transform: uppercase\">News Release<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-transform: uppercase\"><strong>For Immediate Release<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Contact: Brandon Moore<br><a href=\"mailto:bmoore@tampabaywater.org\">bmoore@tampabaywater.org<\/a><br><a href=\"tel:+17277912304\">(727) 791-2304<\/a>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1173395876?h=f0a9c98ab9&amp;badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" title=\"Tampa Bay Region Enters Extreme Regional Water Supply Shortage - Tampa Bay Water Asking Residents to Step Up and Save Water\"><\/iframe><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script>\n\n\n<p><strong>CLEARWATER, Fla. (March 5, 2026)<\/strong> \u2013 Due to persistent severe drought conditions, the Tampa Bay region is facing one of the most severe regional water supply shortages in the last 50 years. As of March 1, Tampa Bay Water triggered a Stage 3 Extreme Regional Supply Shortage due to significant rainfall and river flow deficits and projected low regional reservoir levels. Tampa Bay Water wants residents to understand the significance of the water supply shortage, and how they can work as a community to help.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why do we need to save water? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Water from rivers makes up more than 40% of the region\u2019s drinking water supply. Due to drought conditions, river water is not an available water source. A Stage 3 Extreme Water Supply Shortage occurs when:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Annual average river flow deficits exceed 10 million gallons per day, and<\/li>\n<li>The C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir is forecasted to be below 93 ft elevation within three months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThere are many opportunities to save water throughout the day; we all need to step up and make it a priority,\u201d said Warren Hogg, chief science officer for Tampa Bay Water. \u201cResidents did this two years ago and helped greatly reduce water demands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Tampa Bay region is heading into the driest months of the year when temperatures increase, and so does water use\u2014a combination that can result in additional restrictions on water use, not just lawn watering.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Water is asking residents to step up and save water by making conservation part of daily routines. Here are some simple steps to follow:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Water your lawn no more than one day per week. Find out when you can water at MyWaterDay.org.<\/li>\n<li>Turn off the water when you brush your teeth and save two minutes of running water every time you brush.<\/li>\n<li>Wait until summer when it\u2019s raining to plant or sod. New plants and sod need a lot of water to establish; March, April and May are the driest three months of the year.<\/li>\n<li>Fix household leaks. The big four leaks to fix are broken sprinkler heads, leaking irrigation lines, leaky pipes or faucets, and leaking toilet flappers.<\/li>\n<li>Take no more than a five-minute shower. Find your favorite five-minute song and get out before the song ends.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The region will have the drinking water it needs, and Tampa Bay Water will continue to deliver water to all its member governments throughout the drought. To meet water demands, Tampa Bay Water will rely heavily on groundwater and seawater sources. Water-saving efforts will help extend the utility\u2019s water supplies and leave more in the environment, where it's needed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Regional Water Supply System Facts as of March 1, 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tampa Bay Water triggered a Stage 3 Regional Supply Shortage on March 1, 2026, under its Water Shortage Mitigation Plan, which includes measures to reduce regional water demands.<\/li>\n<li>Tampa Bay Water delivered an average of 72 million gallons per day to our local member governments in February, 4.0% higher than February 2025.<\/li>\n<li>The average rainfall deficit over the past 12 months is 11.57 inches.<\/li>\n<li>Rainfall in February averaged 1.35 inches, 1.45 inches below normal.<\/li>\n<li>The average streamflow deficit over the past 12 months is 18.73 million gallons per day.<\/li>\n<li>Tampa Bay Water\u2019s C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir, the region\u2019s\u00a0water savings account, is currently storing 7.07\u00a0billion gallons,\u00a045.6%\u00a0of its 15.5-billion-gallon capacity.<\/li>\n<li>The Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant produced\u00a0an average of 12.2 million gallons per day in February.<\/li>\n<li>The regional reservoir will\u00a0help\u00a0maintain\u00a0the\u00a0water\u00a0supply to the Tampa Bay Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant\u00a0until regular rain returns and river flows increase this summer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>About Tampa Bay Water<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Water is the largest wholesale water supplier in Florida, providing high-quality drinking water to its members, who in turn, supply water to more than 2.6 million residents of the Tampa Bay area. Tampa Bay Water member governments include Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties and the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. To learn more, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabaywater.org\/Newsroom\">tampabaywater.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15080","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tampa Bay Region Enters Extreme Regional Water Supply Shortage - Tampa Bay Water Asking Residents to Step Up and Save Water - Tampa Bay Water<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabaywater.org\/news\/tampa-bay-region-enters-extreme-regional-water-supply-shortage-tampa-bay-water-asking-residents-to-step-up-and-save-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tampa Bay Region Enters Extreme Regional Water Supply Shortage - Tampa Bay Water Asking Residents to Step Up and Save Water - Tampa Bay Water\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"News Release For Immediate Release Contact: Brandon Moorebmoore@tampabaywater.org(727) 791-2304 CLEARWATER, Fla. 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