{"id":826854,"date":"2026-08-26T21:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/826854\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T21:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:30:09","slug":"denver-water-approves-ban-on-lawn-watering-starting-oct-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/826854\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Water approves ban on lawn watering starting Oct. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denver Water\u2019s 1.5 million customers must shut off their lawn sprinklers at the start of October as Colorado\u2019s largest water utility grapples with record-setting heat and drought.<\/p>\n

The utility\u2019s Board of Water Commissioners<\/a> on Wednesday voted unanimously to impose the ban<\/a>, which goes into effect Oct. 1. The new rule adds to drought restrictions in place since spring<\/a> as Denver Water has attempted to rein in water use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re facing challenges that we haven\u2019t seen before,\u201d Greg Fisher, Denver Water\u2019s manager of demand planning, told the board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s first frost typically falls in the first week of October, so the new rule on watering should not cause much damage to yards as homeowners should already be allowing their yards to go dormant, Fisher said.<\/p>\n

Denver Water customers can still water trees, shrubs, vegetables and flowers by hand or using a non-spray irrigation system. Some facilities, like sports fields and public parks, can seek exemptions to the ban on lawn watering.<\/p>\n

Prohibiting grass watering after Sept. 30 could save 5,000 acre-feet of water, according to the resolution adopted by the commission<\/a>. An acre-foot of water is enough for at least two families\u2019 annual use.<\/p>\n

Denver Water\u2019s drought rules follow a winter with little snow and an abnormally hot and dry summer. Low snowpack reduced streamflows into Denver Water\u2019s reservoirs to less than a quarter of normal, and extreme drought continues to fry the mountains from which the utility draws its water.<\/p>\n

The dry, hot summer \u2014 the warmest on record for metro Denver \u2014 has not offered relief.<\/p>\n

Denver Water\u2019s reservoir system is only 73% full at a time when it is normally 94% full, according to the utility. That percentage may drop to only 60% full before next spring\u2019s runoff, according to Denver Water staff.<\/p>\n

The utility\u2019s leaders hoped mandatory watering rules and encouraging customers to conserve water would reduce usage by 20% this summer. While customers have cut back, they have not met the utility\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

Its drought restrictions will stay in place until next spring, Fisher said, when leaders will reassess.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope this winter brings relief,\u201d commissioner Gary Reiff said Wednesday during the meeting. \u201cBut we need to preserve our resources in case it does not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Water\u2019s 1.5 million customers must shut off their lawn sprinklers at the start of October as Colorado\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[3832,9045,158395,19232,1840,243217,15229,192,4142,2558,3,79,58967,2316,34321,282],"class_list":["post-826854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-colorado-water","tag-conservation","tag-denver","tag-denver-water","tag-drought","tag-environment","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-science","tag-snowpack","tag-summer","tag-utility","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826854","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=826854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}