Florida reclaimed water is the purple-pipe file

In many Florida neighborhoods, the purple pipe is part of the yard story.

Reclaimed water is treated water used again for allowed jobs. Lawn watering is one common use. Parks, schools, golf courses, and other landscape areas may use it too. The purple color helps keep that line separate from drinking water.

That color is helpful, but it is not the whole file. A house may have reclaimed-water service, a meter, watering days, hose rules, warning tags, and a backflow check. The local utility may also have rules about when to water and what not to connect.

Before changing sprinklers, buying a home with purple pipe, or hiring yard work, check the utility account and local reclaimed-water page. Ask where the shutoff is. Ask what schedule applies. Ask whether any backflow or line-separation record belongs in the file.

Keep the account number, irrigation map, shutoff location, utility contact, and any test paper together. Reclaimed water can be useful, but it should not be a mystery line in the grass.