Myths Versus Facts

Fact: Denver Water does not sell water to any other states. Denver Water is a nonprofit public utility responsible under law and contract for providing water to its customers in the Denver metropolitan area. The water of the Colorado River is divided among the seven states in the Colorado River Basin by an interstate compact, and Colorado is required under the compact to allow certain amounts of water to flow out of the state. Denver Water, however, does not control those flows. The Colorado Division of Water Resources, Office of the State Engineer, administers all water rights in the state.

Fact: If customers didn’t conserve, rates would increase even more. Our customers’ disciplined conservation efforts are helping us keep the cost of supplying water down because over the long term, conservation is a cheaper supply option than building new reservoirs and water treatment plants. Also, most of Denver Water’s costs are fixed and don’t fluctuate when customers use a little or a lot of water. The pipes and dams still need to be maintained and main breaks still need to be fixed, regardless of changes in water use.

Denver Water is a public agency funded by water rates, new tap fees and the sale of hydropower, not taxes. The 2011 rate increase is part of our plan to ramp up efforts to replace and rehabilitate aging infrastructure, much of which dates back to the World War II era.

For more information on rates, click here or call 303-893-2444.

Fact: Denver Water is a government entity funded by water rates, new tap fees and the sale of hydropower, not taxes. Water rates are designed to recover the costs of providing reliable, high-quality water service, which includes maintenance of the system’s more that 3,000 miles of distribution pipe — enough to stretch from Los Angeles to New York — and other assets such as reservoirs, pump stations and treatment plants, some of which are more than 100 years old.

Fact: The mayor of Denver appoints Denver's five-member Board of Water Commissioners to staggered six-year terms. Although this has not happened in the past, the Mayor could remove a Water Commissioner for cause. Commissioners are paid a maximum of $600 annually ($25 per meeting) for their service — the same amount of money they have been paid since the current Denver Charter was adopted in 1959.

The Board's purpose is to ensure a continuous supply of water to the people of Denver and its suburban customers. Among other duties, commissioners are responsible for setting water rates and monitoring the cost and maintenance of the system. The Board holds its public meetings generally twice a month.

Fact: Denver Water’s service charge recovers the cost of billing its customers, i.e. the costs for meter reading, billing, back-office support, printing, postage and customer-service support. Those charges are separate and distinct from water rates, which recover the operations and maintenance costs for running the water system itself. 

Denver Water moved to monthly billing for a few primary reasons:

• Monthly billing allows customers to better track their water use and, by extension, lower their water bills. With monthly billing, customers can see their usage and make changes accordingly, particularly during irrigation season, rather than receive a high bill long after they are able to adjust their sprinklers.
• Monthly billing allows customers to see spikes in their usage that may represent leaks on their service line, irrigation system or plumbing fixtures and enable them to make repairs sooner, which reduce the size of the high bill caused by the leak.
• Monthly billing is consistent with other utility bill schedules, making it easier for customers to track and pay their bills. 
• The move to the new system costs customers $0.78 per bill.

Fact: Denver Water employees pay the same rates for water as other customers.