Gabriel Ortiz said his family just had fresh sod installed a few months ago.
Now that section of their yard is dead – thanks to the drought.
“We’ve just been out here with the hose trying to do the best we can but the situation with the drought makes it difficult,” Ortiz said.
He lives in the Croissant Park neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. He said they received a notice from the city to fix the lawn or get a citation.
Now months later, he’s back to square one.
“We’re probably going to have to get it done pretty soon again,” Ortiz said.
Down the road from Ortiz, another neighbor shared a similar story.
“I used 29,000 gallons to water it and it still died” said Chris Asher. “The water bill is more than the grass cost to replace.”
Asher said he’ll have to replace it again.
The replacement ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the size of the yard.
The neighbors are pleading with the city to cut them a break with citations during the drought.
“Please give some lenience, we could use it,” Ortiz said.
The CBS News Miami next weather team calls this drought across the region one of the worst since data was collected by the drought monitor in 1999.
64% of Broward county is in severe drought and 38% of Miami-Dade county is in extreme drought.
The South Florida Water Management District is monitoring levels closely – encouraging residents to conserve water and follow the year-round lawn irrigation restrictions which are as follows.
In Miami-Dade County, residential and business lawns should be watered two days a week on a rotating schedule:
- ODD-numbered home address (those that end in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) are permitted to irrigate on Wednesdays and Saturdays, before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.-EVEN-numbered addresses (those ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, 8) are allowed to irrigate on Thursdays and Sundays, before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.
The county says choose one of the two “watering windows” either morning or evening. Officials say it’s not necessary to water your lawn twice a day – calling it wasteful and possibly detrimental to your landscape.
In Broward County, there is a similar year-round irrigation schedule:
Residences and businesses with an even-numbered street address, no street address, or those who irrigate both even and odd addresses within the same zones, which may include multi-family units and homeowners’ associations, may water lawns and landscapes on Thursdays and/or Sundays, only before 10:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m.
Oritz said he is keeping a close eye on the forecast, waiting to see what mother nature will do next.
“We’re just hoping, praying and watering,” Ortiz said.
CBS News Miami reached out to the City of Fort Lauderdale on Monday to ask if there will be any temporary changes to code enforcement. Given the holiday, we do not expect a response until businesses reopen Tuesday.
