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<\/a><\/p>\nThis Fresh Water News story is a collaboration between The Colorado Sun and Water Education Colorado. It also appears at\u00a0wateredco.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still another grant, for $111,855, will help pay to train and certify metro area teens in becoming turf replacement specialists. Operated by the Neighborhood Resilience Corps, the initiative will replace 23,000 acres of grass at sites that include the Governor\u2019s Mansion and other state facilities.<\/p>\n The grant awards come as Colorado faces a stunning drought year in which winter mountain snows were historically low and a spring heat wave melted those snows early, slashing water available for cities, industries and farms to use.<\/p>\n Aurora, for instance, is expecting just 10% of its normal water supplies this year, according to Tim York, manager of water conservation for Aurora Water, although its reservoirs are 57% full.<\/p>\n As cities broadcast the need to cut back water use to preserve water stored in reservoirs, homeowners and businesses have flooded cities like Aurora with requests for help to design drought-proof landscapes and replace thirsty bluegrasses with lawns that need much less water.<\/p>\n \u201cOur approved applications have doubled over what they were last year, so that is pretty good,\u201d York said. \u201cOur free design program is similar. We have a waitlist.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the CWCB grants, coupled with Aurora\u2019s aggressive water conservation initiatives, are critical to helping the state cope with the drought emergency and create more sustainable water systems.<\/p>\n