Denver Water proudly serves high-quality water and promotes its efficient use to 1.3 million people in the city of Denver and many surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is a public agency funded by water rates and new tap fees, not taxes. It is Colorado's oldest and largest water utility. Denver Water is responsible for the collection, storage, quality control and distribution of drinking water to 1.3 million people, which is nearly one-fourth of all Coloradans. Almost all of its water comes from mountain snowmelt, and Denver is the first major user in line to use that water. Denver Water’s collection system covers about 4,000 square miles, or 2.5 million acres.
The majority of Denver’s water comes from rivers and streams fed by mountain snowmelt. The South Platte River, Blue River, Williams Fork River and Fraser River watersheds are Denver Water’s primary water sources, but it also uses water from the South Boulder Creek, Ralston Creek and Bear Creek watersheds.
Denver Water produces one-third of the state’s treated water supply, which is about 234,000 acre-feet per year. An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water and is enough for about 2 ½ households for one year. Denver Water uses about 265,000 acre-feet of water a year, which is about 2 percent of all water, treated and untreated, in Colorado.
Denver’s drinking water comes from mountain snow in watersheds covering 3,100 square miles. The system includes 10 major reservoirs, four treatment plants, 17 pumping stations and more than 3,000 miles of water mains.
Denver Water’s conservation plan aims to speed up the pace of conservation in its service area and reduce overall system-wide water use to 165 gallons per capital per day by 2016. This number is calculated using the total amount of water served divided by the total population, and includes all uses of water. This is a 22 percent reduction from average pre-drought use of 211 gallons per person per day. The plan is designed to achieve this goal by encouraging customers to make permanent changes in their water use habits — to eliminate water waste and quickly move baseline water use to a more efficient level. The conservation plan also includes water-efficiency provisions for residential, commercial, industrial, irrigation and institutional customers. To date, customers have reduced their water use by about 18 percent. Denver Water is now working to help customers sustain the water-wise habits they’ve already learned and encourage them to save even more.
To build on the successful conservation measures of the past few years, Denver Water applies a public outreach model known as community-based social marketing. A key component in this approach to changing behavior is to blend nontraditional and conventional communication methods.
Denver Water’s conservation advertising campaign, currently in its fifth year, focuses on the message “Use Only What You Need.” The friendly campaign elements include bright orange billboards with clever phrases and concepts; TV spots; costumed employees who frequent community events running around in a giant toilet costume with a sign that says “Running Toilets Waste Water”; and a website that offers free products such as yard signs, T-shirts and iron-ons all proclaiming “Use Only What You Need.”
It’s working. A recent survey found that more than 82 percent of Denver Water customers were aware of the campaign and agree with the message.
With the conservation plan message resonating with residents, Denver Water increased the carrots and sticks of the plan. Denver Water issued more than $2.5 million in rebates in 2009 alone. Most rebates went toward offsetting the costs of high-efficiency clothes washers and toilets, but homeowners can also get rebates for installing rain sensors, rotary nozzles and other devices that support efficient irrigation. Rebates also are available for commercial and new construction customers.
An efficiency incentive contract is available to commercial, industrial, and irrigation customers who use extremely high volumes of water. This 2010 Denver Water program pays customers who enter into these contracts $7,000 for each acre-foot of water they save in a one-year period. Denver Water also requires new developments to amend soil with compost to retain more water.
Each summer, a crew of Water Savers patrols the streets, congratulating customers who are using water wisely and educating those who are not. Denver Water’s summer watering rules prohibit customers from watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and during wind or rain, among other provisions. If a Water Saver catches a customer disobeying the rules, that person will be warned, and if the violations continue, will face fines.
As part of its long-range water supply planning, Denver Water has identified three strategies for augmenting existing supplies to provide long-term, reliable water:
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Conservation - reducing demand
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Recycle - providing highly treated wastewater through Denver Water’s recycling plant, which began operation in 2004, for non-potable uses such as irrigation and industrial purposes, and
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Develop - enlarging capacity at existing reservoirs, purchasing previously mined gravel pits for use as additional storage facilities, or building new reservoirs.
In keeping with these long-term goals, Denver Water’s Board of Commissioners has decided that water saved as a result of the program will be used to fortify the utility’s ”strategic reserves.” Thus, the conservation plan’s gains will provide the dual benefits of reducing water demand and sustaining reserves, allowing more water to remain in streams and reservoirs. All this is part of Denver Water’s mission to be good stewards of the assets we manage.
Updated on July 1, 2010