Denver Water asks customers to not turn on sprinklers during heat wave<\/a><\/p>\nThe decision comes as the region faces a significant lack of snow, a key source of water for the Denver metro area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we’re seeing right now is not good. We’re looking at a really, really low snowpack,\u201d Elder said.<\/p>\n
About half of Denver\u2019s water supply comes from the South Platte River, where snowpack levels are especially concerning. The basin is sitting at just over half of normal levels and ranks as the worst on record.<\/p>\n
In the Dillon Reservoir area, a critical storage source for Denver Water, snowpack is roughly 55% of normal. That shortfall means less water flowing into Denver-area reservoirs this spring and summer.<\/p>\n
Denver Water officials say they had hoped for a turnaround, but long-term forecasts show continued warm and dry conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s not in the forecast right now. Our long-term weather forecasts are really showing continued hot, dry pattern,\u201d Elder said.<\/p>\n
If conditions worsen, restrictions could become even tighter. Officials say one-day-per-week watering limits are possible later this summer if the region remains hot and dry.<\/p>\n
A complete ban on outdoor lawn watering – something Denver has never implemented – remains part of the agency\u2019s drought plan, though officials say it is unlikely this year.<\/p>\n
Denver Water says it won\u2019t have a clearer picture of how much water will be available until spring runoff is measured in May and June.<\/p>\n
To return to normal levels, the region would need an additional 7 to 7.5 feet of snow in the mountains this April.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re just not expecting to fill up those reservoirs this year,\u201d Elder said.<\/p>\n
Water managers also warn this may not be a one-year problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we know about droughts is typically they’re not a one-year event,\u201d Elder said. \u201cWe do need to limit demand just in case we have the same situation next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Water says this is the first time since 2013 that additional limits beyond the typical summer rules…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-532395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}