Denver Water Eases Restrictions

DENVER -- One benefit to all of the rain and snow runoff we've been experiencing is that more communities are easing their water restrictions.

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Denver Water on Monday announced that it has eased water restrictions for its 1.2 million customers. The Denver Water Board will no longer limit the number of zones that can be watered and will allow people wanting to put in new seed or sod to water it as needed for up to 14 days.

There will be no limit on the number of irrigation zones, but each zone can be watered for an average of 15 minutes per day, said Denver Water spokeswoman Trina McGuire-Collier.

"That means, for example, if you have six zones, you can water for 90 minutes and you decide where you want to water within that limit," she said.

Previously, you had a maximum of 15 minutes per zone.

You can also now wash your car at home any day except Monday. Customers who have new sod are advised to keep their receipt from the sod since the 14 days will be based on the date of the receipt.

Denver Water is still enforcing its two-day a week restriction and watering is still prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Drought surcharges are still in effect for the the month of June but may be dropped if reservoirs reach 80 percent of capacity. Water conservationists say reservoirs are still below average -- at 63 percent.

"We're not saying the drought is over. We're saying things are little better than they were so we're lightening the restrictions. We still have a Stage 2 drought," said Denver Water board member Chips Barry.

Water board members also said that they reserve the right to bring zone restrictions back if dry conditions persist this summer.

Recently, many other cities, including Englewood, Longmont, Parker, Thornton, Superior, Federal Heights, Westminster and Boulder, have all eased their water restrictions.

Broomfield is now under a voluntary lawn watering program, and the East Cherry Creek Valley Water District will allow residents to water two times a week instead of just one.