U.S. Water News Online
AURORA, Colo. -- Maggie Gomez is running the dishwasher a little less often and tells her three children to turn off the faucet when they brush their teeth.
Laura and Dumitru Vlaiduc are delaying plans to sod the back yard of their 6-month-old house until next year. Neighbor Anne McClain is planning to take a xeriscaping class to learn how to landscape with drought-tolerant plants and rock beds.
``Basically, we've just been waiting on the rain that never seems to come,'' Laura Vlaiduc said.
Water restrictions in this Denver suburb and several other cities and counties are a stark sign of a drought that has been building for four years, sending some reservoirs to their lowest levels in 54 years.
Empty docks sit high above the dusty dirt floors of some reservoirs where the water has receded. Golf courses are patched with brown grass. Snow is scant across the peaks of the Rockies.
Colorado's snowfall was below average in February, March and April, resulting in a continued decrease in the snowpack, which was recently 14 percent.
The snowpack percentage is measured against a 30-year average. Melting snow contributes about 80 percent of the water in rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs, which comprise much of the state's water supply. Eight major Colorado river systems also provide water to 10 western states.
Across the West, drought conditions in New Mexico, Arizona, Montana and Wyoming are causing plants to die, animals to search harder for food and residents to watch their water use.
The dry conditions also have triggered an early start to the wildfire season. More than 420 wildfires have burned about 22,100 acres in Colorado this year, according to the Rocky Mountain Area Coordinating Center of the National Interagency Fire Center.
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