Aurora reservoir water levels only 55% full; Colorado city's storage is well below average

The first day of summer has yet to arrive, and already water in the City of Aurora is at a premium. Storage levels in their reservoirs are at 55%.

However, it's not all bad news when it comes to conserving water in Aurora during Colorado's drought so far.

"We have had a lot of people comply, and that's been awesome," said Shonnie Cline, Aurora Water's Deputy Director of Internal and External Affairs.

She says most people have been doing their part and that this spring's storms have helped in one aspect.

"It's slowed up demand. So, people aren't necessarily needing to water and they are turning off their sprinklers when they're getting rain, which has been great," said Cline.

But it's not all good news, either. The storms didn't increase reservoir levels.

"We will continue to see those storage levels decrease because, really runoff is for all intents and purposes, over," said Cline.

Those levels are historically low this year.

"If you look at over a 10-year average, we're normally sitting at about 74% of full at this time of year. So, we're obviously down from where we were," said Cline.

So, Aurora Water says the fight to save what water we have continues. They need residents to continue to follow Stage 1 water restrictions.

"Because what could push us into a Stage 2 restriction, which would take you down to one day a week of watering and even more in enforcement, is if people are not following the current Stage 1 water restrictions," said Cline.

That means watering only two days a week and not during the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Aurora Water says they know it's not easy, but it's also necessary.

"Seeing your lawns turn yellow is very hard, and it's going to be happening more as we get into the heat of summer," said Cline.

Aurora Water says lots of people have asked them if data centers are contributing to the problem. They say the data centers that are in Aurora are low water usage by law.