City promotes voluntary water-saving measure for local restaurants
Water conservation is a shared responsibility, strengthened by the everyday choices that help prevent water from being wasted. As part of this effort, Aurora is encouraging restaurants to serve water only to customers who request it. This simple, voluntary step is designed to conserve resources as the city closely monitors its water supply, which currently sits at about 65% of total storage capacity.
While Aurora is not under drought restrictions at this time, the fall season was unusually warm and dry across much of Colorado, prompting renewed attention to water use.
The initiative, introduced by City Council Member Stephanie Hancock, builds on practices that some restaurants already follow. “Aurora sets the gold standard for how municipalities are run,” Hancock said.
“Restaurants already juggle tight margins and lots of rules, so we wanted a way to support conservation without adding extra pressure,” said Hancock. “By recommending rather than requiring the change, we encourage collaboration. It raises awareness while allowing each restaurant to adapt the approach in a way that fits their operations. Over time, as customers get used to asking for water, most places find it becomes the norm naturally.”
Serving water only upon request helps reduce waste from untouched drinks poured down the drain, as well as the additional water used to wash and chill glasses. “We completely understand that this is not, in and of itself, going to save a dramatic amount of water, but it is a small step in a larger education program,” Hancock added.
Water is measured in acre-feet. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons and is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre of land with one foot of water. One acre is about the size of a football field and can serve three households in Aurora.
Aurora Water has the capacity to store 156,000 acre-feet of water across its 12 reservoirs and lakes under normal conditions. If available storage drops below 100,000 acre-feet, drought restrictions may be triggered. When a drought is formally declared, water-service rules for restaurants become mandatory. Visit here for more information about our water storage levels.