The Colorado Springs Utilities Board unanimously approved a drought response resolution Wednesday that allows the city to make operational changes to shore up its water supply amid dry and warm conditions that are expected to continue.

The resolution also allows Utilities to increase messaging to customers about how they can lower water consumption as the city prepares for the impacts of Colorado’s historically low snowpack and worsening drought.

The utility company recommends six rules to reduce consumption on its website, including watering lawns three days a week before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. More information on indoor efficiency and Utilities’ demonstration garden can be found on its website.

“We’re not in a bad place because our residents have taken notice and over the years have adopted their watering practices, which has been great,” board member David Leinweber said during the meeting.

The resolution allows water supplies to be relocated between reservoirs. Some of the closest reservoirs to the city were either at a lower capacity or had been closed for repair work, such as the South Catamount and South Suburban reservoirs, Utilities spokesperson Jennifer Jordan told The Gazette.

The company’s three years of water storage must reach 1½ years by April 1 for drought restrictions to be put into place.

Abby Ortega, Utilities general manager of infrastructure and resource planning, told The Gazette before the meeting that, if water losses are heavy, drought restrictions could still come within 18 months. She anticipates the drought resolution to be in effect for one year.

The measure comes as the mountain watersheds Utilities uses are facing severe to extreme drought conditions with record-low snowpack. Those conditions may not improve as long-term forecasts by the National Weather Service project more warm and dry weather in Colorado.

“These dry years that we have like this are extremely impactful to our supplies,” Ortega told the board, composed of City Council members. “But again, it is something that we plan for. Drought is not new in Colorado and it is part of our sustainable water plan.”

A year ago, the majority of Colorado was drought-free, but that has shrunk to around 20% of the state, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor on March 10. Now, 27% of the state is in moderate drought, while 24% is in severe drought and 12% is in an extreme drought or worse.

As a result, Colorado’s snowpack remains the lowest in recorded history, with 49% of the median snowpack, according to the National Water and Climate Center. Similarly, below average snowfall has given the Arkansas River Basin 46% of its median peak snowpack.

All 12 Colorado counties without a drought classification are in the southeast part of the state, including El Paso, Pueblo and Fremont counties. Huerfano and Costilla counties are the only ones with severe drought conditions in the region, according to the drought monitor.

Still, abnormally dry and warm conditions in the Pikes Peak region have prompted the National Weather Service in Pueblo to issue more red flag warnings year-to-date than any year on record, with 28.

The next closest year for warnings issued through March 18 was in 2017, when 19 were issued, according to weather service data. NWS Pueblo has already issued more red flag warnings than all of 2015 and 2019, which had 17 and 26, respectively.

“The water is definitely an issue, but my greater concern is, honestly, still with the wildfire risk,” Utilities CEO Travas Deal said during the meeting. “I think that’s more prevalent for our community right now with the drought than anything.”

This winter was the warmest for Colorado Springs in its recorded history, a period spanning over 130 years, according to previous reporting by The Gazette. The average temperature across the state between December and February was 33.6 degrees, marking the first time that the average was more than a degree above freezing.

El Paso County is doing better than much of the state in terms of the immediate drought threat, said Allie Mazurek, an engagement climatologist for the Colorado Climate Center. The county was part of the 20% of the state that was not far below the average precipitation for winter.

Mazurek said the end of the year could see some relief from a strong El Niño system potentially building up during the summer. El Niño brings warmer temperatures around the globe but usually also provides wetter weather across the southern United States, including southern Colorado.

“In terms of the amount of winter left to make up meaningful ground on the snowpack, we are very quickly running out of time,” Mazurek said.

The last time that Utilities had to implement a water shortage plan was in 2013, following a year of significant drought conditions across the state. Under that plan, Utilities eventually implemented higher-level restrictions that limited outdoor watering to a max of two days per week.