How Denver Water is tackling water scarcity

In 2022, 33 municipal and public water providers operating in the Colorado River Basin signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a bid to tackle water scarcity issues that the region had been experiencing for several decades.

Over the course of a number of articles, we will be exploring how some of the providers have been addressing the commitments they signed up to in the MoU.

Tackling drought through efficient use

Prior to the signing, the Colorado River Basin had been experiencing its worst drought for 1,200 years. Storage levels in Lake Powell and Mead were at critical levels despite efforts by local communities over more than 20 years to adapt to the intensifying drought conditions.

According to the MoU, significant efficiencies had already been made through direct and indirect conservation programs, including improved technology for indoor water fixtures, changes to landscapes and watering practices, conservation-oriented rates and fees, reuse and recycling programs, marketing and education campaigns, and efficient land use and development policies.

The MoU noted annual water use had decreased by 376 billion gallons (1,153,000 acre-feet) in the 20 years since 2000, while the population grew by 3.7 million people – that equates to a decrease of approximately 1.5 billion gallons a month. In five areas, per capita water use had been reduced by more than 30 per cent since 2000:

• • Aurora Water – 36%
  • Denver Water – 36%
  • The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – 33%
  • Pueblo Water – 32%
  • Southern Nevada Water Authority – 39%

However, increasing drought conditions and the impact of climate change, along with a larger population, meant that by 2022 there was need for even more efficiencies to ‘bring supply and use back into balance’.

A commitment to take action

Credit: Denver Water

The MoU recognises that action needed to be taken to ensure a ‘clean, reliable water supply’, specifically through reducing consumption and by increasing the volume that was reused and recycled.

The providers signing the MoU agreed that: “We pledge to be part of the solution”, and committed to take the following actions:

1. 1. Continue and expand our programs to increase indoor and outdoor water use efficiency.
   2. Introduce a program to reduce the quantity of non-functional turf grass by 30 per cent through replacement with drought- and climate-resilient landscaping, while maintaining vital urban landscapes and tree canopies that benefit our communities, wildlife, and the environment.
   3. Increase water reuse and recycling programs where feasible, contingent on the dependability and security of our existing Colorado River supplies essential to support these efforts.
   4. Implement best practices and sharing lessons learned to help one another accelerate our efficiency strategies. Water providers will select from the following approaches those tactics best tailored to preserve thriving communities, environmental health, and strong economies:
      1. Transforming our outdoor landscapes and urban environments in a manner that improves climate resilience and promotes an ethic of wise water use through mandatory watering schedules and compliance enforcement, incentivized turf removal, and limitations on new turf;
      2. Increasing efficiency of indoor fixtures and appliances;
      3. Employing best practices for industrial processes and commercial operations, including minimization of evaporative cooling;
      4. Adopting conservation-oriented rate structures to incentivize efficiency;
      5. Accelerating water loss control by prioritizing supply considerations in asset management programs and exploring water loss control regulations to minimize water loss;
      6. Improving coordination between land use and water planning efforts through improved processes, best management practices, and additional regulations, where appropriate; and
      7. Employing other strategies tailored to the unique needs of each community.
   5. Collaborate with other water users in the Colorado River basin to bring the supply and use of the river into balance. A robust agricultural economy, healthy watersheds, opportunities to recreate, and vibrant communities are all vital to our western way of life.

The MoU signs off with the acknowledgement that: ‘No one sector, nor one state, can achieve sufficient use reductions independently. For the sake of current and future generations, we all must work together to achieve a balance of supply and use and thereby preserve a functioning and healthy river system.’

Denver Water: making progress against the commitments

Credit: Denver Water

Denver Water is a public utility serving 1.5 million people in Denver, Colorado, and its surrounding areas.

Denver Water CEO, Alan Salazar, told Water United: “Denver Water was proud to lead the effort to develop this MOU in 2022 and continues to make progress on meeting the goals outlined in the document. The MOU was ambitious, as we and our fellow signatories intended. Denver Water is off to a strong start, particularly in pushing the cultural changes needed to reduce water use on landscapes.”

Below, Denver Water’s Todd Hartman shares examples of the progress that has been made in the utility’s catchment area.

Commitment 1 and 2: expand conservation/reduce the quantity of non-functional turf grass

Since 2022, Denver Water has introduced seven different schemes of work to address commitment 1 and 2 of the MoU. These can be summarized as:

1. 1. Water efficiency system development pilot program:
      Encourages developers in new development and redevelopment projects to install the most efficient appliances, fixtures, and landscapes in exchange for a 20 per cent credit on any new system development/tap fee charges.
   2. Landscape transformation work:
      1. Changes at facilities: Denver Water is identifying non-functional turf on its highest water-use sites and transitioning to water-wise landscapes. It is testing different methods and learning from the process with the intent of sharing what it learns with other stakeholders and partners throughout the region.
      2. Partnering with local governments: Denver Water is partnering with other public entities to achieve its public space turf removal goals; partners include Denver Parks and Recreation, and Arapahoe County, where conversions to native mixes are ongoing.
         1. Resource Central partnership:
            • Garden In A Box program – Denver Water customers purchased over 2,500 water-wise gardens in 2024 through this program. This translates to roughly 270,000 sq/ft.
            • Turf Removal Program – Denver Water offered assistance on residential turf removal for the first time in 2024. 119 customers participated in the program totalling over 50,000 sq/ft of irrigated turf removed.
            • Slow the Flow Program – Denver Water provided 300 free residential irrigation system audits in 2024. Customers with high outdoor water-use were targeted. Each customer received a report on their water use.
      3. Image classification and new ways to track landscape change: Denver Water is using aerial imagery to develop more detailed information on how many single-family residential customers (210,498) are making landscape changes since the MoU was signed. Roughly 3.7 per cent of residential customers are making changes to their landscapes and removing turf each year. The average size of project is roughly 760 sq/ft, which equates to approximately 115 acres of turf removal every year.
      4. Free water-wise grass seed: Denver Water offered free native grass seed to residential customers for the first time in 2024, distributing roughly 500 pounds of seed to over 300 customers. If all of these seeds were planted, it would cover approximately 166,000 sq/ft.
   3. State legislature:
      Denver Water continues to work with state lawmakers to address conservation, efficiency and landscape changes. Most recently, it has advocated for, and supported, legislation that will prohibit local governments, metropolitan districts, and special districts from allowing the installation of non-functional turf grass on certain types of non-residential property. Many local land use authorities have indicated they will go further than the bill requires and include single family residential to ensure that resilient landscapes across their communities for all new development and redevelopment opportunities.
   4. Youth Education’s school landscape transformations:
      Denver Water’s Youth Education program is working with schools to install water-efficient landscapes on a small number of pilot campuses. With the help of teachers, students and local organizations the utility is making school properties more bio-diverse, climate-resilient, and water-wise. Students are involved throughout the entire process, from design to putting plants in the ground.
   5. Collaborative DIY turf removal guide for residential customers:
      Denver Water has partnered with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and Resource Central to put together a free ‘how-to’ guide for customers interested in transitioning to water-wise landscaping. This resource is meant for statewide use and can be customized by utilities and municipalities based on their regional needs.
   6. Protecting tree canopy:
      Denver Water has an ongoing sponsorship with The Park People to support expansion of tree canopy in disproportionately impacted communities. Denver Water purchased 18 trees for University Prep in the Curtis Park Neighborhood in 2024, offered ‘in kind’ support to a food forest in the Globeville Neighborhood, and purchased and planted six fruit trees for a food forest in the Barnum community in 2024. City and County of Denver’s Office of Forestry and CASR received $5 million in IRA federal grant money to help preserve existing trees and plant new trees on private property. New programming designed to increase tree canopy to a minimum of 10 per cent in DI communities. Establishment care is being considered, especially in DI area.
   7. Community projects:
      Denver Water is also working with boots on the ground organizations to identify landscape projects in disproportionately impacted communities. These projects may sometimes be putting landscapes in where they don’t currently exist, which will increase water use. The utility feels it is important to invest in these projects to create climate-resilient, beautiful landscapes all over its service area – not just in the affluent areas with an abundance of irrigated turf grass.

Salazar told Water Online: “Working with state lawmakers, local governments, and partner organizations, we are already taking real steps on the ground toward landscape change, and we see many who are readily embracing ‘ColoradoScaping’ with increasing use of waterwise plants and grasses as part of a more climate-appropriate approach to landscape.”

He added: “Reducing non-functional turf grass by 30%, as the MOU calls for, will take time, but we’re encouraged by the progress we are making, the enthusiasm from partners and customers and the recognition in our community of the need for adaptation amid the impacts of climate change.”

Commitment 3: water reuse and recycling

Denver Water has added eight new large, recycled water customers since 2022 to expand its greywater and recycled water capacity. It has also installed and is now operating a first-in-Colorado blackwater recycling system at its Operations Complex in central Denver.

Commitment 4: best practices and sharing lessons

Credit: Denver Water

Denver Water has published and disseminated numerous stories on its TAP news site since 2022 to encourage residents to consider ‘ColoradoScaping’ and create new landscapes that consume less water.

It is expanding educational opportunities for customers by offering a series of landscape-focused workshops. Workshops connect customers to local horticulturalists and landscape professionals to gain practical knowledge of water-wise landscaping.

The utility has representation in a series of collaborative, multi-agency groups like the state’s Urban Landscape Task Force, Community Planning and Development’s Landscape Visioning Process, the Colorado Native Grass Working Group, Alliance for Water Efficiency’s Large Landscape Cohort and MOU Collaboration team to name a few.

At the same time is continuing to learn from and share lessons learned with other utilities and water professionals across the state.

Commitment 5: collaborate to bring supply use of the river into balance

Denver Water works in a collaborative partnership with West Slope and Front Range entities in the Grand County Learning By Doing (LBD) cooperative effort for the benefit of aquatic and habitat health and resiliency for waters that are tributary to the Colorado River.

Every year during the runoff and summer season, the LBD partners coordinate to monitor and identify stream health issues that are affected by hot and dry conditions. Denver Water has responded to requests from LBD in the past by voluntarily reducing diversions from several Grand County creeks and coordinating with the Colorado River District, Grand County, Northern Water and other LBD partners to adjust operations, where possible, to help boost water levels in some of the more troubled areas.

The utility has also coordinated with other groups to boost minimum stream flows during critical periods.