What happens if a town runs out of water?

We at CDPHE work with public water systems through all manner of emergencies including: bacterial contamination, forest fires, flooding, tampering events, loss of system pressure, failure of treatment systems, and many more. Working together with water systems to help ensure that waterborne disease outbreaks do not occur is our program’s top priority. However, ensuring that water systems do not run out of water is a more challenging subject.
Long term drought conditions in Colorado have already had tangible effects on water availability with the following events:

• Records have shown some hand-pumped wells operated by the US Forest Service have run dry due to the shallow depth of the well and a dwindling water table. 

• This year a well operated by a commercial operation in northeast Colorado ran dry, leading to them haul water from many miles away. 

• Operators of groundwater systems in northern El Paso County have reported having to lower their well pump depths several times over the years to better reach available water. 

• A town in southwest Colorado served by surface water was at imminent risk of running out of water. This town communicated very closely with us during this event. The Department and the town brainstormed possible solutions. Fortunately, they were able to get water from an emergency water storage supply allocation.  

However, the overarching question remains: If a town totally runs out of water, what is the recourse? It would be a grim situation and anecdotes from a community in California’s Central Valley that ran out of water may offer clues on the true nature of the hardship at the onset, which included the use of emergency bulk water filling or bottled water stations, and communal shower, bathroom, and laundry facilities that residents had to travel to. The water quality control division encourages systems to anticipate emergency events and work with their partners in local public health, emergency management and neighboring utilities to create Emergency Drinking Water Supply Plans.  It is important to remember that CDPHE regulates the safety of the drinking water to ensure that the water is potable and appropriate for human consumption. Regulation 11 does not require a utility to provide a reliable source of water to consumers. 
While the USEPA nationally discusses consolidation and conservation as two mechanisms to combat situations like this, our geography and the arid nature of the state may mean that water sources become unavailable even with best efforts. Water systems and their managers and boards should be evaluating their available water resources to ensure they will be able to meet future demand and should establish restrictions when warranted to lower water use especially in a drought season or perhaps even if it is forecasted. While the Water Quality Control Division ensures water meets quality standards, water systems should be engaging with the Colorado Division of Water Resources to find any available water quantity that can be developed and utilized in the future.
The following resources can be helpful as you work with your partners to address potential source water shortages: 

• Department of Local Affairs: Incorporating Water into Comprehensive Planning

• Department of Local Affairs: Water and Land Use Planning Tools

• America’s Water Works Association: Water Conservation Programs Planning Manual

• America’s Water Works Association: Water Audits and Loss Control Programs

• America’s Water Works Association: Drought Preparedness and Response

• Environmental Protection Agency: Drought Resilience and Water Conservation Resource Website

The department is working diligently with communities who have water shortages in an attempt to find solutions, but the hard truth remains that if a community completely runs out of water for an extended period, then lack of sanitation and fire protection will make that location inappropriate for human habitation. Partnership into the coming decades to find solutions will be required and to avoid a situation arising where a community becomes uninhabitable.
➽ Tyson Ingels, P.E Lead Drinking Water Engineer Engineering Section
➽ Bryan Pilson, Technical, Regulatory Implementation, and Coordination Unit Manager Drinking Water Compliance Assurance Section