Frisco\u2019s town manager can now implement water conservation measures outside of the standard triggers outlined in the town\u2019s water code after an ordinance under consideration officially passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Frisco Town Council approved Ordinance 26-10 on first reading at its April 14 meeting and adopted it on second reading at its April 28 meeting. The ordinance amends Article V of Chapter 171 in the town code to add the ability for the town to implement levels of its water restrictions if it\u2019s determined that \u201csignificantly below-average snowpack\u201d or \u201csignificantly above average temperatures\u201d or a combination of these factors, both existing or anticipated, pose a risk to the town\u2019s ability to provide water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to the amendment, the code used certain streamflow and water well storage levels to trigger levels of the water restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A town meeting recap stated that \u201cas of March 31, the North Ten Mile Creek watershed, which provides Frisco with much of its water,\u201d had only roughly 7.3 inches of snow-water equivalent, which is about half as much liquid water stored in the snow compared to the five-year average.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2025\u20132026 winter season produced historically low snowfall across the Rocky Mountain region, resulting in well-below-average snowpack levels that are critical to the Town of Frisco\u2019s municipal water supply. Above-average spring temperatures have further exacerbated these conditions by accelerating snowmelt, increasing evapotranspiration, and driving higher wildfire conditions. These combined factors are significantly reducing available water supply at a time when seasonal demand will be increasing the Town\u2019s daily water production by over 100%. Dillon Reservoir remains below historical storage levels, underscoring the vulnerability of the Town\u2019s water resources and providing a real time visual reminder of just how limited the local hydrologic cycle is this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Due to the historically low snowfall, which has led to the most severe drought designation by the U.S. Drought Monitor, town staff recommended moving from the current Phase 1 voluntary measures to Phase 3 mandatory restrictions, which limits \u201cnon-essential outdoor irrigation to two days per week in addition to other restrictions,\u201d according to the town recap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Staff explained it\u2019s possible that North Ten Mile Creek may run dry due to the current conditions and forecasts, which would require the town to rely on its wells, \u201cwhich have been resilient even when the reservoir has been very low.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the town enacted water conservation restrictions in August 2025, it reduced customer water demand by 200,000 gallons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes Town staff confident that community members will once again meet and exceed the call to conserve,\u201d the memo stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If the town manager determines moving to Phase 3 restrictions is necessary, the restrictions would not go into effect until early May after communication is made to water customers and the entire community.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frisco\u2019s town manager can now implement water conservation measures outside of the standard triggers outlined in the town\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-618771","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\/618771","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=618771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}