Governing For Gallons In Colorado | Resilience In The Rockies

Policy is becoming a water-supply tool in Colorado, as local governments use development codes, financing rules, and workforce requirements to reduce demand.

The second episode of Resilience in the Rockies examines how Broomfield, Denver Water, and Aspen are using governance to move conservation projects forward.

In Broomfield, where landscape irrigation accounted for an estimated 60 to 70 percent of annual water demand, a 2023 ordinance limits turf to 30 percent of new landscapes and caps outdoor use at 12 gallons per square foot annually.

The city developed the code after a WaterNow workshop and consultation with residents, elected officials, landscape architects, and homeowners associations.

Denver Water worked with WaterNow to finance more than half a billion dollars in replacements of customer-owned lead pipes—a type of private property investment that utilities traditionally could not place on their books or support with tax-exempt debt.

The resulting accounting and IRS approvals established a model Denver Water is now testing for turf removal and considering for watershed protection.

Aspen requires qualifying landscapes to meet water budgets, use efficient irrigation, and pass third-party audits because the headwaters community depends on snowpack and has only a few days of municipal storage.

To make the code enforceable in practice, WaterNow has helped Aspen train more than 100 landscape and irrigation technicians since 2018.

In each case, decisions about land use, public finance, and implementation are converting conservation goals into projects with measurable water-supply benefits.

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability. Resilience in the Rockies is produced in collaboration with WaterNow and made possible in part by a grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, with support from PCL Construction, Norris Design, Merrick, and the City of Greeley.