Denver Water serves 1.5 million people across the Denver metro area, but says right now, snowpack is sitting at record low levels.
DENVER — After a streak of spring-like weather, some snow is finally falling in the mountains this week. Experts hope this is just the start of Colorado’s comeback to a healthier snowpack.
Denver Water is on that list because they rely on the snowpack to serve 1.5 million people across Denver.
“Denver Water relies on snowpack for about 90% of our water supply. It’s absolutely critical for us,” said Todd Hartman, Denver Water spokesperson.
Denver Water makes monthly treks into the high country during the winter to measure snowpack at various sites that feed into its reservoirs. January’s measurements were concerning, Hartman said.
“The Colorado River Basin in our collection system is at about 55%, and the South Platte River basin in our collection area is at about 42%, which is an all-time low as far as we know from our records going back,” Hartman said.
He added that Denver Water is about four to five feet behind the snowpack goals for the season.
“Not a great situation right now. We’re really looking with hope this week and next week as we start to see some more snow up there,” he said.
Colorado runs on snow – from the ski industry, to tourism and water supply. It’s only February, so there is time to make it up. But, it’s also already February.
“We’re running out of winter a little bit… it’s true that we could get some colossal storms, and we sure hope so, [and] that could make this up, and that has happened before. But we’re really pushing up against the edge right now,” Hartman said.
Denver already has annual summer watering rules, but Denver Water is warning people that more could be coming, depending on what happens with the snowpack in the coming weeks. They encourage people to start thinking through water-efficient upgrades and any landscaping changes that might better conserve water.
