Water-Wise · Evergreen

Use less. It's the only lever you actually hold.

These are evergreen best practices that hold in any Colorado summer. For the enforceable schedule and restrictions, your utility is the authority — we link you to them, we don't set one.

Utility-agnostic and durable. None of this is a watering schedule — it is how to make whatever schedule your utility sets go further.

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  Water deep and infrequent

  Longer runs on fewer days train deeper, more drought-tolerant roots.

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  Water early (before ~10 a.m.)

  Less evaporation and wind than midday, and less disease risk than watering at night.

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  Cycle and soak

  Split one long run into 2–3 short cycles so water soaks in instead of running off — matters on clay soils and slopes.

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  Don't water before rain

  Check the forecast and skip the cycle when rain is coming.

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  Lose some lawn

  Thirsty Kentucky bluegrass is the biggest draw; native/xeric plantings and mulched beds cut water use sharply — look up your utility's “Garden In A Box”-style program.

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  Fix the obvious waste

  A broken sprinkler head, a leak, or heads spraying the sidewalk waste more than any schedule tweak.

Watering restrictions are set and enforced by your local provider, and they change. We link out rather than summarize anyone's schedule — the page below is the authority for your address.

• —Denver Water — watering rules & conservation
• —Aurora Water — watering rules & conservation
• —Colorado Springs Utilities — watering rules & conservation
• —Fort Collins Utilities — watering rules & conservation
• —Pueblo Water — watering rules & conservation

Not listed? Search your water provider's name plus “watering rules” — every Colorado utility publishes its own.

Current as of June 2026