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Water Droplet Splash
Wise Owl Did You Know Reducing Water Can Lead to BIG Savings?
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Water Conservation
The Office of Water Conservation & Drought Planning (OWCDP) promotes water use efficiency while providing public information and technical and financial assistance for water conservation planning.
 
What is Water Conservation?
Water conservation can be defined as practices, techniques, and technologies that improve the efficiency of water use. Increased efficiency expands the use of the water resource, freeing up water supplies for other uses, such as population growth, new industry, and environmental needs. Water conservation programs are an important tool in meeting long-term water supply needs while maintaining quality of life standards. Water conservation, very simply, is doing more with less, not doing without. 
 
Water conservation measures should be tailored on a case-by-case basis to develop the most effective program for local conditions within a given service area. Water conservation can enable a local water provider to meet its obligations with regard to supplying adequate, reliable water to its customers while minimizing costs and protecting the environment.
 
What Are the Benefits of Water Conservation?
Water conservation can enable a local water provider to meet its supply needs adequately with reliable water and save water management costs at the same time. Water conservation can help a water provider to:

  • Avoid or reduce the need to develop or acquire new water supplies
  • Postpone, downsize, or avoid altogether the need for new water treatment or wastewater treatment infrastructure
  • Reduce operating costs related to water & wastewater treatment and source water production
  • Improve supply reliability/margin and mitigate impacts of future droughts
  • Comply with regulationsImprove public credibility by demonstrating stewardship of natural and financial resources
  • Promote sustainable use of finite water supplies
Given that water conservation should be considered in the larger context of sound water management, water conservation planning needs to be integrated into as many aspects of local water resource planning as possible to achieve overall water resource management goals. Water conservation planning can help water providers identify where future planning efforts need to be focused. The planning process helps the provider look at the effect of water conservation on future water supply and demand, and how water conservation may affect (e.g. reduce) the need for and costs of new water supplies and other investments. The OWCDP offers technical assistance to water providers in developing water conservation plans that ultimately result in meaningful water conservation.   

How Does Colorado Define Water Conservation?

Water conservation means water use efficiency, wise water use, water transmission and distribution system efficiency, and supply substitution. The objective of water conservation is a long-term increase in the productive use of water supply in order to satisfy water supply needs without compromising desired water services. (§37-60-126 C.R.S.) 

 At the statewide water resources planning level, Colorado’s Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI) has keyed into the critical role that water conservation will play in identifying strategies and alternatives to meeting the projected 2030 water shortages around the State. Stakeholders from these areas of projected shortage, also known as gap areas, are working to develop regional water portfolios that will integrate a variety of solutions, including higher levels of water conservation, to meet forecasted demands. Ten major findings resulted from Phase 1 of the SWSI process. One affirmed that water conservation will be relied upon as a major tool for meeting future municipal and industrial demands. Significant water conservation has already occurred in many areas. 
 
As water providers and users struggle to accomplish meaningful water conservation planning, they often seek measures or programs that have been implemented by others with success. These types of measures are known as Best Management Practices (BMPs). A BMP is defined as a conservation measure or system of business procedures that is beneficial, empirically proven, cost-effective, and widely accepted in the professional community. BMPs can be evaluated for their applicability for a particular water system or region and be incorporated as water conservation measures within water conservation plans.
Did You Know?

Conservation measures are specific hardware technologies, equipment, or practices that directly reduce water use?Conservation programs are the activities that a water provider or local government undertakes to encourage or require conservation measures.