DENVER - On October 1 Denver Water customers all across the metro area are no longer allowed to water their lawns.
Not with sprinklers, not with hoses; there should be no lawn watering whatsoever.
Plants, shrubs, and trees can all be hand-watered as needed, as long as no sprinklers or spray irrigation is used.
Denver Water's fines have been increased.
For single-family home customers, fines start at $500. For multi-family home and nonresidential customers, fines start at $1,000.
John MacIntyre moved to Littleton from California in July and is a Denver Water customer.
"It was hot," he said of the summer in Colorado, "I understand drought coming from the west coast. There's always a drought out there, so I understood."
While the seasons are changing, so are Denver Water's restrictions. Emails and postcards have been sent to inboxes and mailboxes across the metro telling customers that watering lawns will no longer be allowed. Those are the warnings.
"My first thought was: seems pretty drastic, and my second thought was, 'Okay, I'll obey, but how are you guys going to enforce this?" wondered MacIntyre.
Denver7's South Metro Reporter Danielle Kreutter took those questions to Denver Water.
"We'll enforce it the same way we did this summer, so people have an opportunity to go to our website if they see a violation," said Greg Fisher, Manager of Demand Planning and Efficiency at Denver Water, "You can take a picture and report the violation. We'll also have our field staff driving around."
"What was the most effective tool in enforcing the water restrictions? Was it the neighbors reporting their neighbors, or was it the field crews?" asked Denver7's Danielle Kreutter.
"I think it was both. It was about the same," said Fisher, "What we relied on was pictures. There's some really good metadata behind those pictures, so that we could see this address was watering at the wrong time. Getting the right picture. We wouldn't assess any fines without pictures backing up that, or if we had one of our employees seeing that waste happen at that time."
There is also a process to dispute a fine and appeal a decision if a customer believes they did not violate the restrictions.
There are exceptions to the restrictions. Sports playing fields, high traffic parks, and the tees and greens of golf golf courses are still allowed to have sprinklers watering those lawns.
