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“If projections turn out to be true, we will see a doubling of the population by the year 2050,” says Veva Deheza of the Conservation Board. “We are already seeing areas of the state experiencing stresses on their water supply.”

The state demographer projects that “from the year 2000 – to 2030 – another 2.8 million residents will be living in Colorado, with the majority of the population concentrated in the South Platte Basin.” 

Colorado water is increasingly precious. Growing agricultural, business and household demands on streams, rivers, aquifers, and reservoirs place Denver residents at a crossroads: accounting for Colorado’s diminishing water supply while preserving our most vital resource for the future.

Initiatives by utilities such as Denver Water will only meet 80 percent of the projected 2030 water needs in Colorado. According to the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, “The largest gap is predicted to occur in the South Platte River Basin (Denver metro area), with a shortfall of some 22 percent or 409,700 acre-feet.”

“Most people don’t have a real sense of where (our) water comes from,” observes Becky Long of the Colorado Environmental Coalition. “We are facing large amounts of growth on the Front Range and we are going to need to increase flexibility in our water management systems.”

Water is seldom mentioned among city-dwellers. We expect that it will be allotted – as we please – and cheaply. But where does our water come from, and what changes must we make to keep it flowing?

“It starts with the snowpack,” notes Deheza. “The snow falls, it melts into the streams or infiltrates into the ground. That water makes its way into the reservoirs and storage areas and then (Denver Water) pulls it, as needed, throughout the season.”

The water for your daily shower likely is traveling hundreds of miles: from a melting Breckenridge snow bank trickling to Dillon Reservoir, cascading through Roberts Tunnel to the north fork of the South Platte River, which eventually dumps its treasure into Strontia Springs Reservoir. Finally, to make it fit for hygiene or other needs, the water is pumped through treatment plants, coursing down 2,600 miles of pipelines, then finally arriving at your shower, spigot or sink.

Despite our sophisticated water delivery systems, demand both in Denver and downstream is an escalating drain on the availability of water for posterity “Future needs for water are beyond what the current supply is,” claims Bob Steger, Manager of Raw Water Supply at Denver Water.

According to Smart Water, Denver households use 159 gallons of water per day compared to the national average of 100 gallons. Water supply planners estimate that a typical household uses 0.5 acre-feet of water per year, or 150,000 gallons.

Landscape irrigation is the largest form of municipal water use. During Denver’s arid summers, outdoor landscaping consumes 70 percent of the total water delivered to homes.

“(People) might not realize that we live in a semi-arid climate, and that Kentucky bluegrass isn’t the most efficient thing to have on their lawns,” says Stacy Chesney, Media Relations Specialist with Denver Water.

Watering 5,000 square feet of bluegrass with one-half inch of water, four times a week, requires 20,000 gallons every month. Watering one fewer day per week over five months saves 7,500 gallons of water and $36.80 in costs. Comparatively, installing buffalo grass saves more than 85,000 gallons of water and $260 a year.

A study at the University of Colorado found that “In 2002, mandatory water restrictions reduced municipal demands by 56 percent in certain locations.”  Ap-propriately, water-starved cities across the country have now implemented irrigation guidelines, and not only in times of drought.

“Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the other western states that are mired in significant droughts. If they continue to put such a stress on Colorado River supplies, what does that mean for Colorado?” asks Deheza.

Pricing water to reflect its impending scarcity may motivate Denver users to engage in long-term conservation practices. “(Our) water is way too affordable – it’s cheap!” says Deheza. “Pricing water appropriately is a way of incentivizing conservation.”

“Everyone needs to look at how they’re using water and make some decisions,” adds David Spector of the Citizens Advisory Committee at Denver Water. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect our (current) use and payment to go on, ad infinitum; something has to give.”

However it’s achieved, responsible stewardship of water is an investment in our collective future. “The goal is to show people how to maximize every drop of water so that they don’t have to change their lifestyles; simply enjoy it with less water,” Deheza points out.