Which neighbourhoods in Denver have severe water problems? (Fort Collins, Pueblo: real estate, renting)

[krish24]

I am getting the impression that many of the Denver neighbourhoods have water shortages or issues. In which areas are the water problems severe and to be avoided for purchasing a house? I will be moving to Denver next month and renting initially with intention to buy within a few months.

[2bindenver]

there are watering your lawn restrictions in the spring and summer, but no water shortages or usage restrictions at the moment.

What other issues could there be?

[cowboyxjon]

I think the OP is talking about reservoirs, water rights, etc., and how it's rumored that some of the subdivisions on the fringe, like the neighborhoods by Roxborough, will run out of water in the future.

[Katarina Witt]

I believe the city of Denver and communities served by the Dener Water Board are in good shape. Louisville and Boulder also have stable water supplies. I'm not saying other communities don't; I just don't know.

[Umbria]

She also needs to check out indiviual water rates - some areas are much higher than others. I'm no expert on this, I was told to watch out for this - Lone Tree was used as an example of high rates.

[FentonForche]

I've heard Douglas County is in a bit more trouble when it comes to seniority of water rights, but that's very second hand, so take it with a grain of salt.

None of the water problems match what you'd find in California. But it's not like we're sitting on the reserves of Quebec either.

[Jerry Bckr]

Denver Water has the best supply because they were locking up water rights long before most others. The are pretty much all mountain run off. Other municipalities have had to buy water rights from farmers, obtain it from minor watersheds, or ground water. It's the ground water that's the big concern as it comes from an aquifer that is reported to be dropping by about 30 feet per year. The problem is that no one knows how much water is in it or how much longer it will last. Douglas County is having to start facing up to this fact, especially because it's one of the faster growing counties. Highlands Ranch has a pretty stable water supply, but the larger communites like Parker and Castle Rock rely heavily on the ground water. They're OK for now, but they are trying to come up with solutions for the long term.

The present Colorado Real Estate Commission approved contract to purchase puts the burden on the buyer to investigate the source of water for the home they are buying. If a buyer isn't satisfied with what they find out, they can back out of the contract. Better to know in advance.

Denver Water does supply some communities outside of the City of Denver, so don't feel that you have to be limited to only Denver. Littleton, for example, gets their water from Denver Water.

[tfox]

Water is a BIG issue, but it's not really a matter of "running out" of water, at least not yet. For the forseeable future, suburban areas with less senior water rights are going to do what they have been doing -- purchase agricultural water rights at market rates. This is actually what the Phoenix area has done for decades, obviously an area with more constrained supplies than we have.

Probably that means that water rates of less senior water boards will climb in the coming years -- that's inevitable for such a scarce resource. Frankly, though the real problem will come from the agricultural users, because increasingly dear water supplies will likely make farming a less viable proposition. That's what's happened in Phoenix, where agriculture, once the local mainstay, is rapidly vanishing. From Phoenix' example, we can see that it CLEARLY hasn't slowed down development.

Someone mentioned Douglas County -- many of them are unique since they are pumping a lot of non-renewable groundwater for water supplies. Inevitably, that's going to run out, possibly quite soon, though it's definitely a very controversial topic. When that does happen, homeowners likely will see a spike as their water suppliers will be forced to compete on the market for agricultural water. But it's not like homeowners are suddenly going to open their taps and water doesn't come out.

What that means is that it's more of a problem for the whole state to cope with and less a problem that affects one individual homeowner more than another.

That said, the king of water rights in Colorado is Denver water, which as mentioned serves many suburban areas in addition to Denver. Denver water is also not expanding its footprint, meaning Denver water customers probably have the most secure water supplies in the Metro area. The same thing could be said of municipal water suppliers in cities like Pueblo, Boulder, and Fort Collins (all of which are relatively slow-growth, and have been around a while). They have ample water supplies.

[choosing78]

I moved here from the Great Lakes region which has a pretty endless supply of water. We were scared to death that water bills would be sky high. Imagine our surprise to find out we only pay about $10 ($35 total per month versus about $75 per quarter) more a month here but when we were looking at houses realtors mentioned that prices can dramatically vary.