AURORA, Colo. — A Facebook post from Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman sparked confusion this week after he claimed that Range View High School and Aurora Public Schools were ignoring the city's Stage 1 water restrictions and would face potential shutoffs because the grounds around the facilities were very green.
The post came after Coffman noticed the grass at Rangeview and wrote that city leaders met with Aurora Water on Monday to better understand the problem. He also claimed the school district had been paying fines for violating drought restrictions.
However, the district said it is in compliance with current water restrictions, further clarifying that the district is able to maintain landscaping at its campuses after paying drought surcharges — not fines — under a variance program for large irrigators.
According to Shonnie Cline with Aurora Water, that variance program lets customers stagger watering days by zone, but no individual zone can be watered more than two days a week and never between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
She said if these large irrigators exceed those thresholds, they are subject to removal from the variance program and forced onto the standard two fixed watering days-a-week schedule. These customers must also meet certain efficiency targets.
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Cline acknowledged how confusing these nuances can be.
“I think that I am going to give [Mayor Coffman] a lot of grace in this space, because I think that staff did not do a good job of explaining to him what is going on,” she said.
APS spokesperson Corey Christiansen told Denver7 the district is committed to responsible water use.
“We take the ongoing drought very seriously and know that we, like all Aurora organizations and residents, must wisely use our limited water resources,” Christiansen said. “As Mayor Coffman mentioned in his post, we learned of a possible concern on Monday. To date, we have not received any fines issued by Aurora Water nor have we paid any fines.”
Under Stage 1 restrictions, outdoor watering is limited to two designated days each week and is prohibited from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Residents are also barred from operating lawn fountains, filling swimming pools (except for topping them off), and installing new cool-season grass.
Mayor Coffman was not available for an interview when Denver7 reached out for comment.
Christiansen said a single picture from one school does not reflect APS's overall water use.
“We want to emphasize that one photo from one school site does not represent our district’s overall water usage. We are proud of our extremely dedicated maintenance team that works hard to keep our school grounds in the best shape possible for our community,” Christiansen said.
Aurora Water said APS remains in its variance program, which allows large irrigators to stagger watering schedules while meeting efficiency targets. The utility plans to continue working with district officials and city leaders on conservation efforts as Aurora navigates ongoing drought conditions.
