Aurora’s mayor is warning Aurora Public Schools that it could have its irrigation water shut off, saying he saw green lawns at schools that “were being watered in defiance” of the city’s watering restrictions.

Mayor Mike Coffman was driving past Rangeview High School a week ago and noticed “all of their lawns were very green, meaning that they were being watered in defiance of Aurora’s current Stage I drought water restrictions,” he posted on Facebook Tuesday.

Coffman drove by six other schools in the APS system that had “very green lawns,” he added.

In contrast, Cherry Creek Schools appear to be complying with restrictions “because their lawns looked as bad as my own lawn,” Coffman wrote in the post.

Aurora Water numbers for June showed that nine of the 61 Aurora school district sites were out of compliance with watering restrictions, according to Aurora Water spokesperson Shonnie Cline.

APS is a large water user and, therefore, part of the city’s variance program that helps such users stagger watering to meet restrictions while also tending to all of their property watering needs.

Large water users have to apply for the variance program and can get pulled from it if they do not comply with rules, Cline said.

APS officials said they have “every intention” of coming into compliance on the nine sites, Cline said. If they do not, they can be removed from the variance program, fined and have their irrigation supply shut off.

A water shut-off for the school properties would only include irrigation supply, not building supply, Cline said.

In response to the mayor’s post, APS said the school district is following watering restrictions and has not been fined for excessive water use.

Cline confirmed that no fines have been given to APS for violating watering restrictions, but the nine sites not in compliance will get warnings.

The Aurora City Council unanimously passed a water shortage declaration in early April imposing watering restrictions on outdoor watering for residents and businesses.

Aurora Water officials are also cracking down with heightened enforcement.

They will issue one warning, officials said. The second violation will result in a $250 fine for residential users and a $500 fine for commercial users, and a third violation will result in a $1,000 fine for residential users and a $2,000 fine for commercial users.

After that, Aurora Water can continue fining at the third level or shut water off to the user.

Coffman met with Aurora Water and city leadership to discuss shutting off the water supply to APS schools if it does not comply with drought restrictions, he said.

City Manager Jason Batchelor informed APS Superintendent Michael Giles that water conservation will be discussed in a monthly meeting scheduled for Friday.

“My position is that if Aurora Public Schools doesn’t make a commitment, during Friday’s meeting, to become compliant, that Aurora Water immediately shut off supplying all water used for outdoor irrigation to the school district until all drought restrictions are lifted,” Coffman wrote.

APS spokesperson Corey Christiansen said the school district is taking the drought “very seriously” and has worked with Aurora Water to implement a plan that includes reducing water use by 20% and limiting outdoor watering to two days per week.

“We want to emphasize that one photo from one school site does not represent our district’s overall water usage,” Christiansen said. “We are proud of our extremely dedicated maintenance team that works hard to keep our school grounds in the best shape possible for our community.”

Cline said the mayor’s post showed he cares about water use in the city.

“He is looking out for the entire community and will not let any entity get to avoid doing what’s right for a shared resource,” Cline said. “That’s the heart it came from.”