AURORA, Colo. — Aurora City Council will vote Monday night on water restrictions for more than 400,000 residents as drought and low snowpack strain Denver metro water supplies.
City council members will vote on declaring a stage one water shortage, which would impose outdoor watering limits beginning April 6. If approved, residents would be allowed to water outdoors twice a week instead of three.
Aurora Water said a stage one shortage reflects abnormally dry conditions, low reservoirs and insufficient expected snowmelt to replenish supplies. The proposed restrictions are intended to cut the city’s water use by about 20%.
The utility added that storage in the three river basins it relies on — the Colorado, Arkansas and South Platte — is projected to be below 50% of capacity by early April.
Shonnie Cline, a spokesperson for Aurora Water, said the last time the utility enacted stage one restrictions was in 2023.
"We are not going to see much runoff this year, and so we are planning in anticipation of the fact that we are just not going to get water replenishment in any meaningful way this year," Cline said.
Aurora Water stage one restrictions
Single-family and residential users:
- Outdoor watering limited to two days per week
- No watering between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Addresses ending in even numbers can water on Thursdays and Sundays
- Addresses ending in odd numbers can water on Wednesdays and Saturdays
Multi-family and commercial accounts:
- Multi-family, HOA common areas, and nonresidential can water on Tuesdays and Fridays
- Irrigation-only accounts will have billing and watering variance program allocations reduced by 20%
- Aurora Parks and Open Space and Aurora Water can water on Mondays as an alternate watering day to Tuesdays and Fridays
If approved, stage one restrictions would require restaurants to serve water only upon request. Residents may continue washing cars at home and using commercial car washes; community and public pools could be filled as usual, while private pool owners would be limited to topping off their pools.
Stage one water restrictions come with surcharges for customers who use excessive amounts of water. Aurora Water said residential, multi-family and commercial users will have to pay $2.15 per 1,000 gallons above 110% of the account's average winter use (average water use from December, January and February).
Aurora Water said city water monitors will enforce the restrictions. First violations for single-family customers will come with a warning. A second violation could result in a $125 fine, a third violation will be $250 and any subsequent violations will come with a $500 fine. Multi-family, commercial, and irrigation accounts will have to pay a $250 fine for a second violation, $1,000 for a third violation, and $2,000 for any subsequent violations.
Aurora City Council will decide on whether to enact water restrictions during their meeting Monday night at 6 p.m.
Denver7 has a full guide on the water restrictions in place right now and proposed restrictions across the Denver metro.
