Caught in the teeth of the worst drought on record, Denver Water Board members stressed that tougher steps may be added if winter snows don’t refill half-empty reservoirs.
“The consequences of not reducing consumption ... could be catastrophic,” said board member Dan Muse. “We think it’s going to take a combination of surcharges, penalties and public education to accomplish that goal.”
But critics said the moves, which will land hardest on the $2.2 billion landscape industry, are too little and far too late.
“This has been a gross mismanagement of water resources,” said Fred Wheeler, project manager of CoCal Landscapes.
Several questioned the lenient residential surcharges, which amount to pocket change for even the most wasteful users, and Denver Water's lax enforcement of existing restrictions.
Capitol Hill resident Arthur Powers said some of his neighbors flout the current three-day watering schedule.
“There's water running down the gutter by King Soopers every single night,” he said.
Under restrictions adopted Wednesday, all Denver Water customers will have to reduce their scheduled daily watering on Sept. 1 from three hours to two, except on Sunday when watering is banned. Penalties also will be doubled, with a $100 fine for a second offense and $500 for a fourth.
On Oct. 1, a total lawn watering ban goes into effect. Residents also will be prohibited from washing their cars in their yards.
Many Denver residents won't see any change in their bills. Some businesses will take a five-figure hit.
For Brian Ridnour, president of TurfMaster, the Sept. 1 ban on new lawns means he has 5 million square feet of sod on his Fort Collins farm that he can’t sell this fall.
“This is going to be devastating,” he said. “I've got installers who are going to be flat out of business. I spend half a million dollars a year on my payroll, and I just laid off half my employees.”
Ridnour said the problem is personal habits, not terrible turf. “Plants don't waste water, people do,” said Ridnour. “I have never seen a plant turn on a faucet.”
Board members said the tougher restrictions were tailored to affect individuals before affecting the broader public, but several said the financial pain fell inordinately on small businesses.
Earlier moves have cut consumption by 20 percent instead of the 30 percent target. If last winter's no-show snows recur, reservoir levels could drop to 40 percent of capacity by April 1, the start of the snowmelt season.
Wednesday’s action prompted a barrage of criticism from businessmen to private citizens. “We’re four years into a drought and now they’re going to panic?” said Hans West, vice president of the landscape company Urban Farmer. “Where were they two years ago?”
“If I'm that slow making important decisions, I'm either out of business, or I'm fired,” said Susan R. Harris, president of the landscape association GreenCO.
They pointed out that under the board’s new drought plan, industries and homeowners can pay a little more for their water, but landscapers are getting “cut off at the knees.”
“We'd like to see everyone step up to the plate and conserve everything we can all the time, instead of asking one industry to fix their problem,” Harris said.
“I've got $10 million in projects on the books that need to be done before spring,” said West.
West will still be able to plant trees and install irrigation systems - that can’t be used. But now he will have to go to each customer and for partial payment for a job that is only partially done.
Board member Andrew Wallach acknowledged the landscaper’s plight but defended the board’s action. “The reality is we’re running out of water,” he said. “We may not have enough next spring to maintain the landscapes you want to put in this fall.”
With their sprinkler systems idled, metro residents will have to take particular care to hand-water their trees to preserve the metro’s urban forest.