Denver Water’s board is expected to vote on rate increases that would weigh more heavily on large amounts of water used for irrigation. The utility also wants to hire 15 seasonal inspectors to enforce watering limits in the summer of 2027.
Under the proposal, the average single-family home bill in Denver would rise 5.7%, to $60.21 a month. Suburban customers served by Denver Water would pay an average of $61.57, or 7.9% more. The price in the first usage tier, which covers basic household needs, would fall. The thirstiest households, the top 5% of customers in the city, would pay a combined $98 more in 2027. The revenue is also meant to pay for, among other things, the expansion of Gross Reservoir in Boulder County and the replacement of lead service lines in older neighborhoods.
Utility staff assume that drought restrictions will last at least until early next summer. They therefore propose 15 temporary positions for the 2027 season, paying $25 an hour. The patrol would carry out 2,500 to 3,500 interventions or confirmed violations a month, more than twice as many warnings and fines as in 2026. According to the document, more than 15,000 inspections would yield about 2,000 acre-feet of direct savings, and 5,000 to 10,000 acre-feet when combined with education and efficiency programs.
The proposal comes after the rules were tightened this fall. The watering season ended Sept. 30, and since Oct. 1 lawn watering has been banned entirely. Before that, it had been only a request. A first violation costs an individual customer $500, and each subsequent one $1,000. A notice sent to every customer served as the warning. By the end of September, the utility had issued 110 fines, and from Oct. 1 to 18 it issued 448 fines totaling $265,000.
Water use fell over the course of the season. At first, savings were about 2% of expected use, and by Sept. 30 demand was 9% below the five-year average. After the October ban, the gap grew to 11%, which amounts to an additional 3,700 acre-feet. The goal for 2026 is to cut water use by 20%. Fines do not add to the utility’s revenue, and lower consumption cost it about $4 million over the summer, or about 1% of its normal revenue.
Suburban customers use an average of 127,000 gallons a year, while city residents use 87,000. They also pay more, a result of a change to the charter in the 1950s. The date of the vote was not given in the source material.
Source: Denver Post, Colorado Sun
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