Click the link to read the article on the Aspen Daily News website (Lucy Peterson). Here’s an excerpt:
February 20, 2026
If drought conditions do not significantly improve by the end of the winter, the city of Aspen may enter a stage 3 water shortage for the first time. The city’s drought response committee is anticipating recommending a stage 3 water shortage declaration based on the latest snowpack, drought data and outlooks for Aspen and the Roaring Fork watershed, according to an informational memo sent to Aspen City Council this week. But the city is hoping for more precipitation to stave off more stringent water restrictions, Megan Killer, a plans review technician with the city’s water department, said.
“We are hoping to see more precipitation in the coming months and this memo serves to raise awareness that we are seeing record low snow accumulation and much higher than average temperatures, and if things do not significantly change, we might have to increase water restrictions,” Killer told the Aspen Daily News in an email.
If the city were to enact stage 3 water restrictions, it would use its drought mitigation response plan, which was adopted in July 2020. It outlines restrictions the city could enforce to conserve water under different stages of water shortages. The declaration indicates extreme drought. Under stage 3 water restrictions, irrigation of existing lawns could be limited to one day per week based on a customer’s address. Athletic fields, trees and golf course greens could be irrigated by a mandatory schedule or water budget only. Car washing and filling or refilling of water features and swimming pools may not be allowed. Under those conditions, the city would “work to sustain mature trees to the extent possible but recognizes that there may be a major loss of lawns, gardens, some trees and some shrubs,” the plan says. The city also may pursue supply-side response measures, including operating its physically available senior water rights to divert water, “even though they deplete the decreed instream flow,” according to the plan.
