After a dry winter, Boulder officials say the city’s water supply remains in good shape, for now, but are preparing residents for possible conservation measures.
“We’re watching the situation closely,” Director of Utilities Joe Taddeucci told the city’s Water Resources Advisory Board on March 16.
Boulder has several water resources, including local reservoirs and an allocation from the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which brings water from the Colorado River Basin to the Front Range. Several key reservoirs, including Barker Reservoir near Nederland, sources in the Silver Lake watershed and Boulder Reservoir, currently appear to be healthy. As an older city, Boulder has senior water rights compared to towns like Erie and Superior, which rely more heavily on the Colorado River.
“We track the historic storage levels and where they are at right now for this time of year is a really healthy amount of storage,” Taddeucci said.
Allocations from the Colorado Big-Thompson Project vary based on snowpack and severity of drought. Taddeucci said that Boulder will likely not reach drought stage according to the city’s drought formula. Still, staff are already developing water conservation messaging in collaboration with other municipalities, as they did in 2021.
Taddeucci likened the water supply to a bank account. “We also need to think about a multiyear drought. Not just blowing everything that we have in our accounts.”
The formal water supply report will be presented to the board in April, with more complete data on snowpack, reservoir storage and Colorado-Big Thompson allocations.
“That’s kind of the decision point, but because it’s such a dry year, we’re thinking about it and getting ready to message already,” Taddeucci said. The city is considering adding a note to April utility bills urging residents not to start up their sprinkler systems.
Nearby municipalities have already taken action. Erie declared a drought emergency last week. Residents were advised to avoid using sprinkler systems, and the town’s Parks and Recreation Department paused all irrigation, aiming to reduce water use by 45%. Lafayette is also urging residents to refrain from sprinkler use to limit unnecessary strain on water supply and to conserve water for high demands later in the season.
Well, please start with the srpinklers that spray onto the pavement/parking lots and the overly green blue grass lawns that do not have sports events on them …thank goodness they allow rain barrels now but keep them stirred so the mosquitos don’t proliferate!
Denver Water instituted water restrictions effective immediately, March 25. It is not waiting to study things until May 1 while reservoirs drain.