Listen: Denver and Aurora aren’t hitting their water goals — but they’re not panicking either

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Birds flit over Chatfield Reservoir on a rainy day. May 20, 2026.
Sandy Battulga/Denverite
Birds flit over Chatfield Reservoir on a rainy day. May 20, 2026.

Denver Water’s 1.5 million customers are using less water than usual, but it’s still not enough to meet the utility’s goal of reducing water consumption by 20% amid this year’s drought.

“We’d need to be at 10,300 acre-feet of savings. Instead, we are at 1,300 acre-feet of savings, so behind where we want to be,” said utility spokesperson Todd Hartman.

That means the utility, which serves residents in Denver and many surrounding communities, has achieved barely a tenth of its target.

Read the full story on Denverite.