MANITOU SPRINGS — After abundant rain drenched many parts of Colorado last week, including Manitou Springs, the small town near the base of Pikes Peak is now facing a critical water supply emergency and is warning residents to cease all water use.
All nondrinking water use is prohibited, the city officials said Monday announcing the emergency order. The city warned residents that the city’s primary water source and reserves in its backup system have dropped at a faster rate than expected.
“As a result, strict participation and adherence to these emergency water restrictions are now required,” the city said. That means city residents must hold off on showers, irrigation, dishwashing and other commercial uses of water until the water supply is restored, which could be by the end of this week.
But why is there a water emergency after so much rain? Officials say it’s an issue of high turbidity, or extreme cloudiness of water, caused by sediment and other microorganisms that are affecting water quality and treatment operations.
Last week’s storm dumped several feet of snow across the Pikes Peak region, which then quickly started to melt in the high temperatures in the days that followed. The rapid snowmelt is causing increased runoff into the watershed and that runoff carries a lot of organic material and sediment that enters the Manitou Springs Water Treatment plant.
Manitou Springs gets most of its water from a stream called French Creek on Pikes Peak. But when those flows are insufficient or turbidity levels are too high, the city can get water from a federal water project called the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which was started in the 1960s to move water from the western side of the mountains to the eastern side, where it is drier.
The city accesses the water through the Fryingpan-Arkansas project in two ways — by a process called “exchange” where they can trade water rights to get the water they need into their storage and by piping it directly to them through a pipeline run by Colorado Springs Utilities.
The problem is the pipeline is temporarily out of service for emergency repairs, the city said. Repairs won’t be finished until the end of this week.
“Without access to this backup delivery method, proactive and complete conservation is the only way to maintain drinking water supply and safeguard system operations during this period of environmental stress,” the city said.
The city’s treated water, stored in finished water tanks, is safe to drink, but the amount of available treated water is critically low, officials said.
The city treated 150,000 gallons of water Monday, but the same amount was consumed overnight, from 8 p.m. through Tuesday morning, the city said Tuesday afternoon, stressing that further conservation was “essential.”
While businesses aren’t required to close, the city encouraged business owners to shorten hours, temporarily close or use disposable items “as an added conservation measure” if possible. On Tuesday, water jugs were partially cleared out from a Safeway on the border of Manitou and Colorado Springs.
A sign posted on Adam’s Mountain Cafe, on Manitou Avenue, informed guests that the restaurant would be closed until Wednesday due to the water shortage. Manitou Springs School District 14 also closed all of its schools Tuesday in an effort to conserve water.
At SunWater Spa, a wellness center with cedar tubs filled with mineral water, guests were still preparing to soak, but were told to limit their showers, co-director Beth Stein said.
“It certainly will impact our business closing down, but also we value water a lot here so we understand its importance so we will do whatever we need to do to make sure the Manitou community and our community has what they need,” Stein said of a potential closure. “That’s our main priority.”
The inconvenience isn’t all uncommon in a mountain town that relies on outdated water infrastructure, Letitia Lofquist, owner and general manager of Manitou Brewing Company said.
“It’s part of being in a historic old town,” said Lofquist who opened the brewery in 2014. She’s had to shut down at least twice this year, for about three to four hours, after the city shut down water completely for water supply issues.
This week, her brewery staff is conserving water when possible, but operations are otherwise running as usual and her brewer has been able to remain on schedule.
“We do use a lot of water with the brewery, several days a week, when we have planned to be brewing, so it would affect that,” Lofquist said.
“We’re not changing our schedule. It’s a small brewery,” she said.
Impacts of the water shortages trickle down to her staff when she’s forced to close, including waiters who won’t get tips and the kitchen staff who won’t get paid.
“It’s just frustrating dealing with how (the city) relays information and last time they closed down, my brewer went down into the street asking workers what they think because there is no communication from the city on anything. It’s ‘We’ll let you know,’” Lofquist said.
“It’s frustrating. But hey until the water turns brown or it turns off, we’ll be here.”