The water budget is calculated from two components; an indoor component and an outdoor component.  The allowed water budget for outdoor irrigation provides adequate water to maintain a healthy landscape, but not so much that our resource is wasted.  Water is billed at progressively higher tiered rates for water use over the budgeted amount of water to encourage conservation.  However, customers will only be billed for water consumed, regardless of their water budget amount. 

Residential customers are billed bi-monthly. The indoor residential component is 12,000 gallons bi-monthly and may be adjusted for household population. Each customer’s water budget for outdoor use is based on the actual lot size. The irrigation allowance is based on the amount of water, in addition to normal precipitation, necessary to sustain a normal lawn and other plant material. The annual total amount of supplemental irrigation included in the water budgets is 27 inches of water per year.

The indoor non-residential budget is an annual budget and is based on meter size.  For separate outdoor irrigation only meters, the budget is calculated monthly and is based on total irrigated area. The graph above shows the inches or irrigation included per week in the calculation of the water budget.

It is possible for a customer to increase the indoor portion of the water budget by completing an annual affidavit indicating the number of people living in the home. For a household of more than three people, the water budget can be increased by 3,000 gallons per person bimonthly. An increase in the allotment requires a corresponding increase to the wastewater rate paid to account for the increased flow to the wastewater system. Affidavit applications are available on the water conservation section of the website.

The water depths for irrigation are adequate for landscaping to be maintained and not suffer excessively during a drought, yet are ample for average conditions. The 27 inches watering depth was selected after many conversations with water experts, turf specialists, and Colorado State University Cooperative Extension staff. Careful water applications combined with a reasonable level of horticultural practices (such as soil aeration, fertilizers and/or soil conditioners, sprinkler maintenance, etc.) can meet the budget over time without excessive stress on the plants. If an area of turf experiences non-normal stress while following the application schedule, consideration could be given to either hand watering only the stressed area or changing the area to an alternative landscape treatment other than grass. For information on water efficient landscapes, please visit www.xeriscape.org.

Increased water budgets without a larger than average household population or without a temporary permit for the installation of new landscaping (see the following question) are not available.  Rather than use a potentially arbitrary variance-granting appeal process, Highlands Ranch Water has set the policy of using straight economic incentives built into the rate structure.  In other words, customers may make their own economic decisions trading off their desired level of water use with the price of this commodity that has a limited supply.

Temporary increases in a customer’s water budget for purposes of establishing new landscaping are available in the months of April, May, September and October only.  These temporary water budget increases are not available in the hottest months.  Generally less water is required and it is far more successful to establish new landscaping in the cooler spring and fall months.  The application for a temporary increase in your water budget is available on the water conservation page of our website.