It’s been about a week and half since Erie officials told residents to keep sprinklers off due to what the town has called “unprecedented” water usage. Now that April is here, the town will get some relief — more water.

But that doesn’t mean it’s completely in the clear, as drought looms over communities across the state.

On March 20, Erie officials said they would monitor irrigation system use and could turn off water service at the property taps of residents, HOAs and businesses that did not comply with a request to shut off sprinklers.

Since then, the town has not turned off any individual’s water but has had “multiple face-to-face conversations with a list of households that continued to water,” town spokesperson Gabi Rae told the Daily Camera.

The main goal with the sprinkler directive, Rae said, is “to keep (Erie’s) water usage below 3 million gallons per day because we have a maximum winter supply of 3.5 million per day.”

Typical indoor water use in the winter averages about 2 million gallons per day. As residents began turning on sprinkler systems over the past few weeks — which were marked by an unseasonable warm spell — the town saw usage creep closer to the 3 million mark, Rae said.

Usage reached 2.9 million gallons per day on March 19, prompting the emergency alert the following day.

Last weekend, Rae added, the town saw usage drop to about 2.41 million gallons per day.

More water on the way

The town is asking that even-numbered addresses begin irrigation no earlier than April 4 and odd-numbered addresses begin no earlier than April 6.

In the winter season, Erie gets a smaller daily amount compared to the water the town receives from the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District during the summer. The district’s Southern Water Supply Project pipeline from Carter Lake, a major summertime water source for Erie, opens in April.

“That’s what we’re waiting for,” Rae previously told the Camera.

Erie’s water supply comes from three water sources — Carter Lake, Boulder Reservoir and Gross Reservoir. The district’s pipeline from Carter Lake, which also supplies Louisville, Superior and the city and county of Broomfield, is Erie’s “primary year round raw water source,” according to the town’s website.

Erie will begin receiving its summer water supply from the district “at the end of this week,” increasing its maximum capacity to 16 million gallons per day, Rae said. At that point, the town expects to “no longer be in a water supply emergency.”

But the town still expects to be in Stage 1 drought, Rae added, and will ask residents to water just two days per week, with allowances for a third day of watering in weeks when “exceptionally dry/hot conditions are met.”

“We will be asking residents to sign up for sprinkler alerts, so they know when we have announced the appropriateness of a third watering day,” Rae said.

Drought across Colorado

With inordinately warm temperatures and low snowpack across Colorado this year, Denver and Arvada have announced Stage 1 droughts, and Aurora is expected to follow suit.

Gov. Jared Polis earlier in March activated the state’s Drought Task Force and Phase 2 of Colorado’s Drought Response Plan.

“Colorado is experiencing the warmest year so far in our 131-year record, and one of the driest,” Polis said in a March statement. “Activating the Drought Task Force will help ensure we are protecting one of our most precious resources by closely tracking impacts, supporting communities, and coordinating better as we prepare for the year ahead.”

The Drought Task Force, which the state says was last activated in 2020, brings together state agencies to assess drought conditions.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board will continue tracking drought indicators, including snowpack, precipitation, temperature, streamflow, soil moisture and reservoir storage, according to the state.

As of Thursday, the board’s data showed Boulder County in “severe drought,” with some nearby counties in northwestern Colorado in “extreme drought,” and others a step worse — “exceptional drought.”

If conditions continue to worsen, the state said in early March, “the governor may move the state into Phase 3 of the Drought Response Plan, which includes an official drought declaration.”