City of Aurora Drought Response
The city of Aurora is committed to doing its part in helping our reservoirs refill during the current drought declaration. Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) staff has led the way through investments in efficient watering practices and proactively replacing acres of non-functional, water-intensive turf to water-wise landscape. They will continue and expand those efforts to reduce city water use during the drought.

As our public green spaces are invaluable to our communities, PROS makes every effort to avoid disrupting parks' normal functions and quality. Youth athletic fields, high-use park areas, primary play areas in golf courses and slow-growing plants like shrubs and trees will be given priority for water resources. 

To keep these priority spaces in our parks healthy, PROS will decrease watering significantly in less-used areas, likely letting turf go into heat dormancy when necessary. Residents can expect the landscape in these non-functional turf areas to appear a little dried out over the summer:

• Medians

• Streetscape

• Park areas along roadways

• Sections of golf courses that don't experience frequent play

• Municipal properties

• Open spaces

PROS staff will work to ensure these areas remain healthy enough to spring back when the drought declaration is lifted.

Some parks, golf courses and city facilities are irrigated using treated reclaimed water and may appear slightly greener than other properties. Using reclaimed water is a sustainable way to maintain those landscapes without having to use water from our reservoirs. 

Watering Schedules

City of Aurora properties (including parks, golf courses and open space) are expected to follow the same restrictions as privately owned properties. However, you may see sprinklers on city properties running more frequently than the current days-per-week restrictions because they are enrolled in the Large Property Watering Variance Program (Variance program).

Any properties with more than 20,000 sq.ft. of landscape may enroll in the large property watering variance program for an exemption of the days-per-week restriction to ensure irrigation equipment functions as efficiently as possible. Aurora Water ensures these properties are using an efficient amount of water and meeting drought reductions to maintain the exemption. Under drought restrictions, the efficient amount of water is reduced by 20% or 50% to match the current drought stage’s targeted outdoor water savings.

Variance participants are still not allowed to irrigate between 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Water Conservation as a Way of Life

The city of Aurora recognizes that our growing community situated in a semi-arid, drought-prone region must embrace water conservation as the ongoing standard for building a sustainable future. PROS has led the city’s efforts to make water efficiency the daily norm through investing in equipment, staff training and the physical makeup of our shared public spaces and facilities.

Back to our Roots 

To reduce the annual water needs of our public landscapes, PROS is bringing non-functional turf areas back to their prairie roots. Since 2022, PROS has replaced over 75 acres of non-functional turf areas with low-water and low-maintenance native grasses. Back to our Roots projects target traditionally unused turf areas like streetscape, medians, park areas along major roadways, parking lots, open space corridors and other areas not suitable for activities. By reverting turf back to native grass areas, PROS can focus its water and other resources on maintaining the turf areas that support youth activities, athletics and other popular uses of our parks and open spaces.

PROS has also embraced the use of new turf varieties that can handle high foot traffic while still reducing water needs. Select baseball fields and other high traffic areas have already been converted to more drought hardy, water-wise options with more slated in the future as these varieties prove they can meet the needs of active play spaces in our parks.

Visit PROS’s website to learn more about the completed and proposed sites that are getting a water-wise makeover as part of the Back to our Roots campaign.

Aurora Water offers free waterwise landscape designs and rebates to help get your yard back to its roots too, learn more about how we can help on the conservation website.

Irrigation Technology

Reporting Waste

The city of Aurora greatly appreciates residents notifying PROS staff when irrigation equipment is broken or malfunctioning. If you see water waste occurring on municipal property, check to see if PROS staff is on-site performing an inspection or doing work, and if not, report the waste to Access Aurora. PROS or Water Conservation staff will be notified and work to fix the problem as quickly as possible. Go to https://www.auroragov.org/city_hall/contact_us or call 303.739.7000. 

Frequently Asked Questions