How much water did Colorado cities save amid 2026 drought?
Can Colorado do more with less water?
Where Colorado will find the water it needs to thrive is a more urgent question than ever amid historic drought, undeniable climate change and unprecedented interstate conflicts over limited river supplies.
The Colorado Sun is embarking on a solutions journalism series asking who in the state is doing their share to save precious water. Our solutions-oriented reporting will assess whether specific water conservation projects can free up water at a large scale, or whether local conservation is always overwhelmed by uncontrollable natural conditions or immovable market realities.
The Colorado Sun series, “Can Colorado do more with less water?,” will create a body of work showcasing what may or may not be possible in creating water solutions across the state. From Akron to Aspen, we’re looking for signs of success or failure that will help lead us to water security.
You can’t make a landscape revolution happen all at once, even when the mercury in the thermometer is flashing a bright, hot “100.”
Beleaguered Front Range water utilities responded to historic drought conditions in the just-ended watering season with a variety of mandates, restrictions, price increases, friendly reminders and educational seminars.
The results were decidedly mixed.
With no guarantee that predicted El Niño weather will bring deep powder in the spots drained by Front Range cities, utility experts will be studying their results in case they need to redeploy restrictions in 2027. We asked a handful of cities to tell us what they learned, and to add up the numbers.
Not every water agency measures its savings the same way or uses the same historic period for comparison, so we’re presenting their savings in the way they talk about it in their communities.
What happened in Aurora?
Aurora Water’s reservoirs traditionally start off the watering season significantly lower than Denver’s storage, and with that in mind, the city launches drought restrictions early.
Overall distribution of potable water dropped just under 12% from the 2025 watering season, through Sept. 30, said spokesperson Shonnie Cline. Outdoor watering was a much bigger success, with potable outdoor water deliveries dropping nearly 29% from the year before.
One enforcement advantage for Aurora Water is a historic investment in monitored smart meters for every home in the district. That means central monitors can immediately see, for example, when a given home has turned on outdoor sprinklers for a third day in a week, violating the restriction of two days a week. Denver Water has said some of the capital investment it might have had for smart metering was used instead to speed up replacement of dangerous lead pipe connections to neighborhoods.
The monitored system resulted in 4,247 warnings issued across all residential, apartment and commercial accounts, Cline said. From that, 606 fines were issued.
In assessing whether consumers accepted the monitoring and warnings, or were concerned about surveillance or government errors, Aurora Water looked at how many of the warned consumers sent back inquiries for more information on their red flags. Only 249 inquiry forms were returned, Cline said, relatively small compared with the number of warnings.
“This indicates that most customers understood the requirements and were receptive to feedback,” Cline said. Most were “willing to make the necessary changes,” she said, and “appreciated the transparency” that came with monitoring data.
“Most importantly,” Cline said, “customers demonstrated a strong sense of shared responsibility during the drought. They were eager to learn, receptive to outreach, and willing to do their part to reduce use.”
Aurora’s reservoirs sat at 41% full on Oct. 4.
What happened in Denver?
Denver Water set drought targets soaked in ambition, but progress toward those goals was painfully slow.
When Denver announced in the spring it was shooting for 20% overall water savings from recent averages, it also raised prices for the tiers triggered by higher landscape watering. When it became clear over the summer that the utility’s 1.5 million urban and suburban customers were only shaving a few percentage points off their overall use even in 100-degree weather, Denver Water publicly scolded owners of large lawns and increased enforcement efforts.
Denver Water spokesperson Jimmy Luthye broke down the month-by-month savings progress this way, compared with the five-year average for the same month:
- May: 3%
- June: 4%
- July: 8%
- August: 14%
- September: 14%
“Considering we haven’t been on restrictions for a long time, and have never gone straight into mandatory restrictions, we knew it would take some time to see significant water savings, which is why we started with an educational approach,” said Greg Fisher, manager of demand planning and efficiency at Denver Water. “We then saw a steady improvement over the summer, despite continued record-breaking heat and dry conditions.”
As reservoirs dropped and Denver Water wanted more progress, the board voted to make the traditional Oct. 1 end to lawn-watering season a mandate instead of a voluntary cutoff. Anyone using lawn irrigation at all after Oct. 1, can be warned and fined.
“We think that awareness helped lead to a successful end to watering season Oct. 1, as our customer demand is down 24% so far this month,” Fisher said.
Overall seasonal water use was down 9% through September, Denver Water said, saving about 10,800 acre-feet. An acre-foot can serve two to four families for a year. The Oct. 1 lawn cutoff has already boosted overall savings for the year to 10%, Denver Water noted.
Denver Water’s reservoir system is 67% full, compared with an average of 90% in recent years. The agency staff predicts storage could drop to 60% by the time mountain snowpack begins melting next spring.
To boost those savings, Denver Water took in more than 7,500 reports of potential watering violations, sent out 5,000 educational mailers and more than 2,000 formal warnings. From that, 110 fines were issued.
What happened in Boulder?
They do things differently in Boulder, in so many ways. No mandatory watering restrictions, for example.
Even though the city has been under a “Drought Watch” since May 1, the storage levels in a carefully designed, resilient system were still relatively high, said spokesperson Janine Haan.
“Our water supplies remained above the thresholds this year that would trigger mandatory restrictions,” she said. “Instead, we utilized more water from storage and encouraged community members to voluntarily reduce water use.”
That didn’t work.
For April, when warmer temperatures offered a premonition of the 2026 summer, water use was 15% above Boulder’s five-year average. After moving to Drought Watch, water use dropped, but only to meet the five-year average for the rest of the summer.
“While we did not see significant reductions, we also did not see increased demand, despite exceptionally hot and dry conditions,” Haan said. “Maintaining typical water use during a drought year is a positive outcome.”
Consumers absorbed the educational efforts on reducing water use, Haan said, and participated more in information sessions on water-wise landscaping.
Boulder remains under Drought Watch, with reservoirs at 76% full, compared with the average of 88% at this time in a normal year.
What happened in Colorado Springs?
Colorado Springs Utilities entered the scorching summer drought with three years of demand available in reservoir storage. By Sept. 30, the city’s backup reservoir had drained to about 2.4 years of demand. Years of available supply is a key metric the city looks at in deciding levels of drought restriction.
Colorado Springs, however, never went to the two-day-a-week watering limit that other large cities adopted in the spring. No more than three days remained the rule.
Given that, the results were fairly predictable. People water when allowed to. Water use through Sept. 30 was 1.7% above the city’s 10-year average, spokesperson Jennifer Jordan said, and about 2% higher compared with other recent dry years. Colorado Springs has received only about half its usual precipitation year to date, she said. Moreover, the city is serving more customers than the previous years.
“This is in line with our expectations for water use during a historically hot, dry irrigation season,” Jordan said, in response to The Sun’s email survey questions.
Colorado Springs sent 8,290 “water use alerts,” 45 formal warnings and three fines, Jordan said. Most of the customers who got the alerts did subsequently cut their use. Many residential and business customers are asking about the utility’s support for alternative, water-saving landscapes, and the city is considering how to boost those programs for next year.
“This year we confirmed that our customers generally understand the relationship between their water use and the water reliability of our system,” Jordan said. “Despite warmer and drier conditions, most customers responded by managing irrigation responsibly and accepting some degree of landscape stress rather than significantly increasing water use.”
What happened in Fort Collins?
It was live and let live in Fort Fun this summer, with only voluntary water savings and no warnings or fines.
Even though Fort Collins’ primary water storage at Joe Wright Reservoir is down to 61% of capacity as of Oct. 1, the city emphasized outreach and education all summer instead of day-of-the-week or other restrictions. People were asked to limit outdoor watering to two days a week, in morning and evening hours, but there were no rate increases or enforcement.
The community did respond to outreach, spokesperson Honora Thompson said, with many more people calling in to report others wasting water. The city utility has logged 181 calls reporting leaks or waste so far, compared with 86 last year.
“These are signs customers are paying attention to water use and drought conditions,” she said.
The city’s array of conservation and education programs are estimated to cut water demand by about 2.3% a year. The city’s water efficiency plan targets increasing those savings to 4% within 15 years.
