Tapped: The Denver metro region sits at the center of one of the American West’s most complex and consequential water challenges. This series examines the interconnected systems that determine how the region secures, stores, and conserves its water while navigating the competing demands of fast‑growing urban communities and the increasingly unpredictable mountain snowpack that underpins the entire system.

From the high peaks of the Upper Colorado River Basin to the treatment plants on the Front Range, every link in Aurora’s water system is under pressure this year.

With reservoirs sitting 10% below normal and runoff evaporating before it reaches major waterways, Aurora water officials warn the city is entering one of its most challenging supply years in decades.

As Aurora grows and winters get warmer and drier, the limits of conservation are becoming clear, leaving Aurora Water facing an increasingly uncertain future, spokesperson Shonnie Cline said.

Aurora is not alone.

Across the Denver metro area, the story is the same: reservoirs are low, snowpack has faltered, and warm, windy weather is stealing runoff before it ever reaches storage.

“If anybody in the state of Colorado, or anywhere in the Southwest, tells you they’re not worried, then that means they’re not actually addressing what is real,” Cline said. “Society as a whole is really going to have to learn what the value of water is, and it’s more than just what you’re paying for on your bill.”

Rethinking water use

Water users need to make smart choices now, Cline said, but the challenge goes beyond individual habits. Ensuring a reliable water supply in a warming climate will require Coloradans to rethink how the state uses water at every level, she said.

In Colorado, 40% to 60% of water is used for outdoor watering, she said. 

“We’re going to have to rethink what we consider to be beautiful,” Cline said. “Eventually, Kentucky Bluegrass is just not going to be a human right.” 

In early April, the Aurora City Council passed a Stage I Water Shortage declaration, enacting certain watering restrictions for all Aurora Water users.

The goal, officials said, is to reduce water use by 20%. If they do not reduce it by that amount, Aurora would likely face Stage II water restrictions by the end of the year.

Aurora gets roughly a quarter of its water from the Upper Colorado River Basin. That supply flows through the Arkansas River Basin — where another 25% of Aurora’s water originates — before reaching Turquoise and Twin lakes near Leadville. From there, it’s pumped back over the Mosquito Range and into the South Platte River Basin.

Another 50% of Aurora’s water comes from the South Platte River Basin, according to Aurora Water’s website. 

Of that water, between 95% and 99% is reusable, and Aurora Water uses the Prairie Water Project and Binney Water Purification Facility to treat it.

Binney came online in 2010 and can purify about 50 million gallons of water each day, Cline said.

Aurora stores its water in 13 reservoirs across Colorado, and as of late March, they were about 58% full. That’s roughly 10% below what’s typical for this time of year, Cline said, largely because last year didn’t bring enough water to refill them.

While 10% doesn’t seem immediately alarming, officials worry because they know it won’t be replenished this year, she said.

Runoff typically delivers about 56,000 acre-feet of water to Aurora in a good year. In 2002, a record drought year, it dropped to 22,000 acre-feet, Cline said. Snowpack is even worse this year than it was in 2002, so she expects runoff to come in below that already low mark.

While record-low snowpack is a major contributing factor to water woes, record-high temperatures are adding fuel to the fire on water supply, Cline said.

“It’s been so dry, and with the winds we have, the runoff we’re getting from higher peaks isn’t even making it out of the tributaries, it’s just absorbing into the ground,” she said. “We’re seeing runoff now that we wouldn’t typically see until May.”

Water-saving measures

Aurora Water has taken the reins statewide in enacting water-saving measures, Cline said, creating a nonfunctional turf ban, requiring xeric or low-water landscaping for new developers, and prohibiting large water users from doing business in Aurora’s service territory.

They are also in the process of building a new reservoir in Park County, meant to bolster Aurora Water’s storage capacity to help it take advantage of good snowpack in years to come.

There will be peaks and valleys of good and bad water years, Cline said, and the reservoir would help Aurora Water use the good ones to save for the bad ones.

As much as Aurora Water is doing to conserve water for the future, it takes a village, Cline said. Everyone in the state needs to do their part to conserve water and ensure the future of the West’s water supply. 

Feeling the pushback

Already, Cline has seen pushback from people and organizations, such as HOAs, unhappy with watering restrictions. For some people, that pushback stems from a “cognitive disconnect,” she said.

“While we have seen water scarcity in the past, most people have not actually felt what that really means,” Cline said. “Our water rights are just not yielding as much water as they were 10 years ago because of the changing climate, and so being water efficient is not just going to be one of those nice things; it will have to be a requirement.”

The city is taking a stricter approach to enforcing watering rules this year. It has also rolled out an AMI system that tracks how much water each customer uses, allowing staff to identify who is violating restrictions and to detect leaks in irrigation systems more quickly.

People and companies that do not follow the restrictions will be fined, Cline said. 

“And quite simply, we will collect those fines, and we always have the option to shut off water,” she said, adding that city code allows the city to sever water use for customers ignoring the rules. “That is how seriously we are taking this.”

Following watering restrictions is the best way to help, Cline said.

“This is one of those times when the community has to come together and look out for each other,” she said. “We don’t know how long this is going to last, and the last thing we want is for this to get to a place where we are limited to only indoor water use, or even worse. This is the best way for you to care for and love your neighbors right now.”