The rule
Under the Georgia Water Stewardship Act, in force statewide since June 2, 2010, homes on city or county water may water their landscape every day, but only between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m.
Some watering is allowed at any hour:
- New planting, seed and sod, while being installed and for 30 days after.
- Food gardens.
- Drip irrigation and soaker hoses.
- Hand watering with a hose that has an automatic shut-off nozzle.
So for the first 30 days, you can keep new sod watered whenever it needs it.
Drought levels
Georgia's Environmental Protection Division can declare drought levels that add limits. It declared a statewide Level 1 Drought Response on April 27, 2026, and kept it at Level 1 in August. As of October 17, 2026, there has been no change.
Level 1 asks for public education only: the 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. window still applies. Levels 2 and higher can limit outdoor watering further. Check the level before laying a new lawn.
How to water new sod
UGA's advice:
- Put down a quarter to half an inch of water within 30 minutes of laying the sod.
- Water lightly every day until it is firmly rooted, which takes about two weeks.
- Then water more deeply and less often. Once it is growing well, UGA Extension in Forsyth County suggests about an inch a week.
Sod laid in fall or winter still needs to be kept moist.
Your water provider
Your water provider can add rules of its own, and posts the current ones.
- Gainesville and Hall County: the City of Gainesville's Department of Water Resources supplies homes in Gainesville and Hall County, drawing on Lake Lanier.
- Cumming and Forsyth County: the City of Cumming's utility or Forsyth County Water & Sewer; your bill says which. Forsyth County bans wasteful irrigation, broken sprinklers and visible leaks all year. When drought restrictions are in force, it requires a Landscape Exemption Form for new planting.
- Flowery Branch: the City of Flowery Branch runs its own water system, fed by wells. Some Flowery Branch addresses are on City of Gainesville water instead.
- Buford: the City of Buford runs its own water system. Homes outside the city limits may be on another one.
More on each town: Gainesville, Cumming, Flowery Branch, Buford.
