Watering Your Dallas Lawn Under the City’s Twice-Weekly Schedule

Dallas has had permanent outdoor watering rules for years, and in May 2026 the city updated its Water Conservation Ordinance to make the daytime watering ban apply all year. If you have an automatic sprinkler system, those rules shape how you program it, how long each zone runs, and how you keep the lawn healthy through hot summers.

This guide explains the current rules in plain language and, more importantly, how to set up your system so the lawn gets the water it needs within the schedule. Always confirm the latest details with Dallas Water Utilities, since ordinances can change.

The Current Dallas Watering Rules at a Glance

According to Dallas Water Utilities and the city’s conservation program, SaveDallasWater.com:

• Twice-weekly maximum, year-round. Landscape watering with automatic systems or hose-end sprinklers is allowed no more than twice per week, on days assigned by your address.
• No sprinkler watering from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., any day of the year. The May 13, 2026 ordinance update made this time-of-day restriction year-round. It previously applied only from April 1 through October 31.
• Rain and freeze sensors are required. Automatic irrigation systems in Dallas must have a working rain and freeze sensing device.
• Foundations may be watered any day, at any time, using a hand-held hose, soaker hose, drip irrigation, or a bucket.
• Hand watering, soaker hoses, and drip are permitted outside the twice-weekly schedule.
• Variances may be granted in certain situations, such as newly installed landscapes (not including cool-season grasses), large properties, or hardship cases.

Which Days Can You Water?

Your watering days depend on the last digit of your street address:

• Addresses ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8: Sundays and Thursdays
• Addresses ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9: Wednesdays and Saturdays
• No address number: Sundays and Thursdays

Apartments, office complexes, and other properties with multiple addresses use the lowest address number.

Why Twice a Week Can Be Enough

Two watering days may sound limiting in a Dallas July, but most established warm-season lawns do better with deep, infrequent watering than with short daily cycles. Watering deeply encourages roots to grow down into the soil, where moisture lasts longer. Frequent shallow watering keeps roots near the surface and makes the lawn more sensitive to heat.

The challenge in Dallas is that clay soil absorbs water slowly. If you run a spray zone for a long block of time, much of the water runs off into the street before it soaks in. That is where good programming matters.

How to Program Your System for the Schedule

1. Set the right days

Program your lawn zones for your two assigned days only. If your controller has multiple programs, make sure no other program has lawn zones on extra days.

2. Choose early-morning start times

The early morning, before 10 a.m., is generally the best window. Winds are usually calmer, less water evaporates, and grass blades dry during the day, which helps limit fungal problems. Evening watering after 6 p.m. is allowed, but leaves turf wet overnight. If you water in the evening, finish early rather than late.

3. Use cycle and soak

Rather than one long run, split each zone into two or three shorter cycles with a rest period in between. For example, instead of one long block, run a shorter cycle, let other zones run, then return for a second pass. The water has time to soak into the clay instead of running off. Our clay soil guide goes deeper on this.

4. Make sure all zones finish before 10 a.m.

Add up every zone’s total run time, including soak periods, and work backward from 10 a.m. If the system is large, you may need an earlier start time.

5. Adjust seasonally

Lawns need more water in summer and much less in spring, fall, and winter. Use your controller’s seasonal adjust feature to scale run times instead of rewriting the program. Our year-round maintenance calendar suggests when to revisit it.

6. Keep the rain and freeze sensor working

Check that the sensor is connected and not bypassed. Test it by pressing the test button or wetting the sensor according to the manufacturer’s instructions and confirming the controller pauses.

Our controller repair and upgrade guide covers programming for Rain Bird, Hunter, Toro, and Rachio models.

Make Every Watering Day Count

With only two days a week, system efficiency matters more than ever. Water lost to broken heads, overspray, and leaks is water your lawn does not get.

• Fix broken and sunken heads. See our sprinkler head repair guide.
• Adjust spray patterns so water lands on turf, not sidewalks and streets.
• Repair leaks. A mainline leak wastes water every hour of every day; our leak detection guide explains how to test.
• Check coverage with a simple catch-cup test to find dry spots.
• Move beds to drip. Drip irrigation delivers water directly to plant roots and is permitted any day. See our drip irrigation guide.

Foundation Watering

Dallas explicitly allows foundations to be watered any day, at any time, with a hand-held hose, soaker hose, drip line, or bucket. In expansive clay, keeping soil moisture around a slab more consistent during dry periods is a common practice. A dedicated drip line along the foundation on its own zone or valve makes this easier and keeps it separate from the lawn schedule.

New Sod and Landscapes

New sod and plantings need more frequent watering to establish. The ordinance allows variances for newly installed landscapes in some circumstances, excluding cool-season grasses. If you are installing new sod, check with Dallas Water Utilities about the variance process before you plant.

Free Help From the City

The City of Dallas conservation program offers resources on SaveDallasWater.com, including guidance on efficient irrigation. The program has offered free irrigation system check-ups to eligible customers; check the site or call the conservation office for current availability.

Common Mistakes Under the Twice-Weekly Schedule

Most schedule problems we see in Dallas are not about the rules themselves but about how the controller was set up to follow them.

• Leaving an old third day in the program. A leftover day from before the current rules means the system is watering when it should not be.
• Stacking start times without realizing it. Every start time runs every zone in that program again. Three start times can triple the water applied.
• Starting too late. A large system that starts at 7 a.m. may still be running past 10 a.m. Add up the total run time and start early enough to finish.
• Running beds and lawn together. Shrub beds and drip zones have very different needs than turf. Give them their own program.
• Turning run times up instead of fixing coverage. Brown spots that stay brown after extra water usually point to a head or pressure problem, not a schedule problem.
• Bypassing the rain and freeze sensor. A disconnected sensor lets the system water during storms and freezing weather, which wastes water and can ice sidewalks.

Fixing these usually takes a few minutes at the controller and can make a noticeable difference in how the lawn looks by mid-summer.