Orlando Environment Guide: Lakes, Stormwater and Wetlands

The Orlando environment section has no deeper guides of its own yet, so this hub answers the six common questions directly and points to related Orlando guides in other sections.

For drinking water and sewer bills, the Orlando water service guide and the Orlando sewer services guide in the utilities section go further. Ground stability is covered in the Orlando sinkhole risk areas guide, and storm planning in the Orlando hurricane preparedness guide, both in the safety section. Rainfall timing is in the Orlando seasonal weather patterns guide, and two downtown Orlando green spaces have their own pages: the Lake Eola Park guide and the Harry P. Leu Gardens guide in the landmarks section.

The City of Orlando Streets and Stormwater Division monitors lake water quality and maintains the pipes, canals, retention ponds and aquatic plantings that drain into Orlando lakes.

The division is based at 1010 Woods Ave, Orlando, and answers at 407.246.2238 or [email protected] (Streets and Stormwater Division). The same page lists services to report flooding, to report lake or stormwater pollution and to sign up for lake water quality notifications; for an emergency the city says to call 911.

The City of Orlando tracks and publishes rainfall and lake level data, including water levels, flow and quality, and links to a FEMA tool for checking whether an Orlando address sits in a floodplain (Lakes and Rainfall). Active Orlando lake alerts appear on a city map, and the page sends readers to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection dashboard for algal bloom reports (Lake Alerts).

A Lake Advisory for all City of Orlando lakes, dated October 10, 2024, was still posted on orlando.gov on October 15, 2026; it asks the public to refrain from recreation or contact in the lakes until further notice and says all boat ramps are closed (City of Orlando advisory). The city page gives no later update or end date, so the Lake Alerts page, where the city lists active alerts, is where to check the current status of an Orlando lake.

Keep Orlando Beautiful Inc., a certified Keep America Beautiful affiliate housed in the Streets and Stormwater Division, runs the Adopt-A-Street program, which the city says is designed to get the public involved in keeping Orlando streets and waterways free of litter and other pollution (City of Orlando).

The Orlando stormwater utility fee is $0.12138 per square foot of impervious area per year for FY 2027, the third step of a four-year increase that began October 1, 2024.

The City of Orlando first set a stormwater utility fee in 1989 to deal with runoff, pollution and flooding, and it had last been adjusted in 2008 before the current increase (Stormwater Utility Fee). It pays for stormwater devices that cut pollution reaching Orlando lakes, for pipes, canals and retention ponds, and for lake management including water quality and aquatic plantings.

Rates and the 2,000 square foot fees both come from the residential fee table on the City of Orlando fee page, which lists the same $303.45 FY 2027 fee for residential parcels of 4,000 and of 10,000 square feet. The city's own worked example, a 7,760 square foot Orlando lot with 2,000 square feet of impervious area paying $161.84 per year, and its stated single-family maximum of $202.30 per year both match the FY 2025 rate, so bills from FY 2026 on run higher than those examples (City of Orlando).

Vacant Orlando parcels are charged $84.24 per acre with a one-acre minimum. The fee is billed once a year as a non-ad valorem charge on the Orange County property tax bill and is collected by the Orange County Tax Collector; parcels with stormwater facilities meeting the Orlando Urban Stormwater Management Manual get a discount (City of Orlando). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Orlando website.

For Orlando lawns, Orange County lists two watering days a week through October 31, 2026, while the St. Johns River Water Management District Phase III order limits affected areas to one day a week.

The District states that all of Orange County follows St. Johns restrictions; the only exception is the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which follows the South Florida Water Management District (SJRWMD watering restrictions).

Orange County says to water only if necessary, not between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and for no more than one hour per zone; first violators get a warning and repeat violators a $25 fine per violation (Orange County watering restrictions). The Orlando Utilities Commission page states the same standing pattern of twice a week during daylight saving time and once a week during Eastern Standard Time, with no watering from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (OUC).

The District, whose rules Orange County and Orlando follow, announced its Phase III Extreme Water Shortage on May 13, 2026, for drought across northeast and central Florida (SJRWMD). Under Phase III, landscape irrigation is limited to one day a week and banned between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; the District page lists Saturday for odd or no addresses, Sunday for even addresses and Tuesday for nonresidential properties, with no more than three-quarters of an inch and one hour per zone, and an irrigation hotline at 386-329-4545 (SJRWMD). A District release dated September 3, 2026, says the declaration remains in effect within affected areas (SJRWMD update).

The District pages checked on October 15, 2026, do not list which counties fall inside the shortage area, and the Orange County page does not mention Phase III. From November 1, 2026, the Orange County days for Orlando homes match the Phase III days, though the banned hours still differ. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Orange County, OUC and SJRWMD websites.

The Orlando Wetlands is a 1,650 acre City of Orlando water reclamation facility at 25155 Wheeler Road in Christmas, open free for hiking, biking and nature viewing Tuesdays to Sundays from sunrise to sunset.

The site has over 18 miles of open marsh trails. The Visitors Center opens Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and volunteer-led public tram tours run on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 9 a.m., with the last tour leaving at 1:15 p.m. from May to October and 2:15 p.m. from November to April (Orlando Wetlands). Tram tours take groups of 10 or fewer on a first come, first served basis, and a notice on the city page on October 15, 2026, said public tram tours for Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10 were cancelled due to heavy rains and road conditions. Creatures of the Night is listed there for October 17, 2026.

The Orlando Wetlands exists because of the Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility, which the City of Orlando built in 1979 under a U.S. EPA mandate. In 1986 the city bought 1,650 acres near Fort Christmas for $5,128,000, and by July 1987 it had turned 1,220 acres of pasture into a man-made treatment wetland designed for up to 35 million gallons a day (City of Orlando history of the wetlands).

Reclaimed water travels about seventeen miles from Iron Bridge in a four-foot pipeline, spreads through cattail marsh and swamp, and leaves through a canal into the St. Johns River. The Orlando Wetlands receives about 14 million gallons a day, and over 250 bird species have been recorded there, including roseate spoonbill, wood stork, sandhill crane and bald eagle (City of Orlando).

Green Works Orlando, launched in 2007 under Mayor Buddy Dyer, is the City of Orlando sustainability initiative that the Office of Sustainability and Resilience was assembled to carry out.

The Orlando zero waste goal is to stop sending solid waste to landfills by 2040, and the office offers free trees for private yards in the city, a cooking oil recycling container program and a What Goes Where guide to trash and recycling carts (Office of Sustainability and Resilience). Its stated focus areas are local food systems, livability (which the city says includes the natural environment and tree canopy), transportation and mobility, zero waste, clean water, and clean energy and green buildings.

The Orlando Resilience Plan is the city framework for hazards such as hurricanes and extreme heat alongside social stresses like housing costs (Orlando Resilience Plan). It updates the city's 2017 Climate Vulnerability Assessment and draws on the Green Works Community Action Plan; the City of Orlando ties the plan to its commitment to the Global Covenant of Mayors.

Nuisance alligators in Orlando lakes go to the FWC Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286), and household chemicals go to Orange County Utilities drop-off sites, which are free for Orange County residents.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission runs the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program and generally treats an alligator as a nuisance if it is at least 4 feet long and believed to threaten people, pets or property; it then sends a contracted trapper (FWC). Because the program is statewide, the same hotline covers alligators in Orlando.

For paint, pesticides and electronic waste, Orange County Utilities runs two drop-off sites open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.: the Orange County Landfill at 5901 Young Pine Road and the Porter Transfer Station at 1326 Good Homes Road (Orange County household hazardous waste). Paint and chemicals are limited to 25 gallons per vehicle, no commercial waste is accepted, and the Orange County Solid Waste Hotline is (407) 836-6601. The county also lists a community collection event on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at East River High School, 650 E River Falcons Way (Orange County).