While this summer may be a hot one, it will most definitely be a more expensive one for some Denver Water customers.

The Denver Board of Water Commissioners on Wednesday approved temporary drought pricing on outdoor water use as part of its Stage 1 drought response, as Denver Water’s collection and service areas continue to face severe drought conditions, with a historically low snowpack and concerns about diminished spring runoff.

The drought pricing will apply to May water use (reflected in June bills) and remain in effect through April 30, 2027, or until further action by the board.

Tier 1 use, which covers essential indoor water use for bathing, cooking and flushing toilets, will be exempt from the temporary drought charge. 

Officials said that under the temporary rate hike, residential customers will see a drought charge on Tier 2 water use of $1.10 per 1,000 gallons. Tier 3 will have a drought charge of $2.20 per 1,000 gallons. 

The drought charges will be tacked onto the customer’s existing 2026 water rates.

Officials say an individual’s monthly residential water bill will vary depending on where they live within Denver Water’s service area and how much water they use.

In these charts, the categories are:

• “Super conserver”: A customer who has very little outdoor water use, maybe only watering trees and shrubs throughout the year.
• “Good conserver”: An average customer who reduces their annual water use by 20%, from 104,000 gallons (the average use by residential customers in an average year) to 82,000 gallons.
• “Non-conserver”: An average Denver Water residential customer who uses 104,000 gallons of water over the course of the year (the average use by residential customers in an average year) and doesn’t respond to Denver Water’s call to reduce water use by 20%.
• “High user”: A customer in the top 25% of residential water users.

“Implementing temporary drought pricing is not a step we take lightly. It is one of many tools Denver Water has available — when needed — to respond to drought conditions, encourage customers to conserve our water supply, and ensure our ongoing ability to operate and maintain the system that delivers clean, safe water to 1.5 million people,” Alan Salazar, Denver Water chief executive officer, said.

“Drought charges signal to our customers the premium value of water in a drought, while exempting essential indoor water use. We haven’t needed to use this tool in more than 20 years — since the historic drought of 2002-04 — and conditions surrounding this year’s snowpack and potential runoff are shaping up to rival, and possibly be worse than, those years,” Salazar said.

The proposed 11-month tiered drought pricing, according to officials, is designed to incentivize water-use reductions by encouraging water consumption and ensuring “that higher-usage customers pay more.” 

The price bump is expected to help Denver Water reinforce its recently implemented Stage 1 drought response, which targets a 20% reduction in water use.

Water restrictions are necessary to preserve reservoir storage until the levels can return to normal.

“Current conditions indicate that this is going to be an exceptionally challenging year for our water supply,” Nathan Elder, Denver Water’s manager of water supply, said in March after the drought restrictions were announced. “Snowpack levels are at historic lows, and they’re melting earlier and more rapidly than normal.”

The drought pricing covers several classes of customers, including residential, large irrigation, wholesale and raw water customers.