Last Updated on September 4, 2026 by Brian Beck
Denver Should Learn From Colorado Springs Before We Repeat 2012
Colorado has seen this movie before.
And we should be very careful about how we write the ending this time.
In 2012, Colorado Springs experienced an extraordinarily hot and dry year. Temperatures reached 101 degrees. The city recorded 49 days of 90 degrees or hotter. Yet Colorado Springs did not impose drought lawn-watering restrictions that summer.
Water continued to come out of storage while landscapes struggled through exceptional heat.
Then came 2013.
After another poor winter, reservoir levels were depleted enough that Colorado Springs Utilities imposed severe restrictions: lawns were limited to two watering days per week.
The community suddenly went from relatively unrestricted irrigation to rationing.
That sequence should teach us something.
Conservation Should Begin Before the Emergency
There is an enormous difference between conservation and deprivation.
Good water management does not mean allowing unlimited irrigation during an extreme year.
But it also does not mean waiting until reservoirs become dangerously low and suddenly taking water away from landscapes that have already been weakened.
The objective should be to preserve soil-moisture continuity while eliminating waste.
Those are not the same thing.
A sprinkler throwing water into the street is waste.
Watering at the wrong time of day is waste.
Applying water faster than compacted soil can absorb it is waste.
Running irrigation because the calendar says Tuesday rather than because the soil actually needs water is waste.
But maintaining enough moisture within the root zone to keep plants functioning is not waste.
It is asset protection.
Killing Landscapes Can Actually Create Another Water Problem
This is the part of the drought conversation that receives far too little attention.
When a mature landscape dies, replacing it requires resources.
New sod must establish.
New seed must germinate.
New trees and shrubs need frequent irrigation while developing roots.
Soil exposed after plant loss heats dramatically.
Weeds invade.
Erosion increases.
And years of established root systems and biological development can disappear.
That means poorly designed conservation can potentially create future water demand while trying to reduce present water demand.
The smarter objective is not:
How little water can we possibly give landscapes?
The better question is:
How much useful landscape can we maintain with the least possible water?
That changes the entire conversation.
Denver Is Now Approaching the Same Decision Point
Denver Water is currently experiencing an extraordinary drought.
Reservoir storage stood at approximately 73% in August compared with a historical median near 94%, and Denver Water projects storage could fall to approximately 60% before the 2027 runoff season.
Beginning October 1, Denver Water is prohibiting watering of grass entirely until further action by the board.
Denver estimates that ending grass irrigation after September 30 could save approximately 5,000 acre-feet of water.
Those are serious numbers.
The concern is not that Denver should ignore them.
The concern is what happens next.
If the strategy becomes progressively removing water from landscapes without simultaneously teaching people how to make soil and irrigation systems more efficient, we could repeat an old mistake in a new way.
Denver itself recognizes that inefficient irrigation matters. Its current recommendations include cycle-and-soak watering, avoiding runoff, repairing irrigation systems and improving soil with compost.
That is a good beginning.
But we need to go much further.
Soil Is Water Infrastructure
We routinely think about reservoirs, pipelines and treatment plants as water infrastructure.
Soil should be included in that discussion.
Healthy soil is a reservoir sitting underneath every landscape.
Its structure determines whether rainfall and irrigation soak into the ground or run down the gutter.
Its organic matter and humus influence how much moisture remains available to roots.
Its biology helps create aggregation and pore space.
Its rooting depth determines how much of that stored water plants can actually reach.
A dysfunctional soil might require irrigation every few days because the effective root zone is shallow and the soil stores very little usable water.
A properly functioning soil can potentially use the same gallon far more effectively.
That is conservation.
Not simply using less water.
Getting more biological and environmental value out of every gallon.
We Need Plants, Too
There is another danger in approaching water exclusively through a scarcity mindset.
Plants are not merely consumers of water.
Vegetation shades soil.
Plants reduce surface temperatures.
They cool surrounding air through evapotranspiration.
Trees intercept sunlight that otherwise strikes pavement, roofs and buildings.
Root systems improve infiltration.
Organic matter enters soil through plant growth and root turnover.
Vegetated landscapes participate in the movement of water between soil and atmosphere.
None of this means we should cover Colorado with thirsty turfgrass.
We shouldn’t.
Some areas currently planted in turf should absolutely become lower-water landscapes.
But replacing living landscapes with heat-absorbing rock, exposed soil and hardscape everywhere would solve one problem by aggravating another.
A hotter urban environment increases evaporative demand.
Hotter soil loses moisture faster.
Plants become more stressed.
Buildings require more cooling.
The proper goal is therefore not less vegetation.
It is more appropriate vegetation supported by more functional soil and more intelligent irrigation.
The Lesson From 2012
Colorado Springs eventually learned something important from its drought experience.
By 2013, restrictions were necessary because storage needed to recover.
But imagine what could have happened if, years earlier, the public conversation had centered on:
better irrigation auditing,
soil infiltration,
cycle-and-soak watering,
soil organic matter,
root-zone depth,
appropriate turf placement,
plant selection,
weather-based scheduling,
and measuring actual soil moisture.
Instead of waiting for scarcity to dictate behavior, we could have built efficiency before the emergency arrived.
That is the opportunity Denver has today.
And frankly, it is an opportunity for the entire Front Range.
Don’t Wait Until the Reservoir Forces the Decision
Colorado’s water future will almost certainly require conservation.
But conservation should not mean waiting until the emergency arrives and then choosing which landscapes we are willing to sacrifice.
We can start now.
Improve the soil.
Reduce compaction.
Increase water infiltration.
Build carbon and humus.
Improve irrigation distribution.
Water deeply and intelligently.
Measure soil moisture.
Select plants appropriate for the location.
Keep valuable shade trees healthy.
Reduce turf where turf provides little benefit.
Maintain turf efficiently where it provides recreation, cooling or useful living space.
We should be designing landscapes that can survive Colorado’s future—not simply starving landscapes designed for its past.
Because the next water crisis will not be solved by panic.
It will be solved by efficiency.
The question is not whether Colorado has enough water to waste.
Clearly, we don’t.
The question is whether we are willing to learn how to stop wasting the water we already have—before scarcity forces another reaction we later regret.
Don’t Wait for the Next Water Emergency
Colorado’s water future is changing.
The answer is not to panic when restrictions arrive. The answer is to make your landscape more efficient before they do.
At Front Range Biological, we help homeowners understand what is happening beneath the surface—how well the soil accepts water, how long it holds it, how effectively roots can access it, and what may be causing unnecessary water loss.
Through soil testing, biological soil development, improved infiltration, and smarter irrigation practices, we can help you build a lawn and landscape that does more with every gallon.
The goal isn’t to use more water. It’s to stop wasting the water you already use.
If you want to prepare your landscape for tighter watering rules, hotter summers, and a more uncertain water future, now is the time to start.
Let’s find out how efficient your soil really is—and what we can do to improve it.