District’s consumers now water at their own risk

The water police are out in force in the Cherokee Metropolitan District.

They’re taking mug shots of violators and fining customers who water their lawns or wash their cars.

The troubled water district is asking the 17,000 people it serves not to do either, blaming hot, dry weather and customers’ overuse for the situation.

Cherokee provides municipal services, including water, to about 7,000 homes and 400 businesses in an unincorporated area east of Powers Boulevard, north of Platte Avenue, west of U.S. Highway 24 and south of Barnes Road.

Cherokee residents’ water privileges have been limited to twice a week for two hours each day. But high water use forced the district to take the step of forbidding most outdoor water use.

Trees, vegetables gardens and shrubs can still be watered, though customers are asked to do it only before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m., Cherokee office manager Dian Hardekopf said.

The tough restrictions are difficult for some residents to absorb.

Nate Stephan, 25, moved from Dallas with his wife, Anastasia, and three kids less than a year ago. At first, Stephan didn’t mind the twice-a-week restriction.

He said he thinks it trained his grass to be more adaptive than a lawn that’s watered every day. Now, he says, it’s “going to be gone.”

Stephan questions his ability to sell his home and move to another house, even if it’s down the street.

“I don’t like the idea of them trying to stop me from watering my lawn at all,” Stephan said, whose front lawn is already turning brown at the edges.

With water supplies dangerously low, Cherokee has upped the ante for violators.

A first violation is met with a warning. Violation No. 2 nets a $50 fine. No. 3: $150. No. 4: $350.

Cherokee officials will patrol neighborhoods and photograph violators for evidence. They’ve issued 500 citations in the past month.

Cherokee officials are unsure when the ban will be lifted. But with “cooperation out of mother nature and our customers, it may be sooner rather than later,” said Jim Culichia, attorney for the district.

Reserves ran dangerously low, even on days when people weren’t supposed to water their lawns, Culichia said, which is a sign that people weren’t complying with the twice-a-week restrictions.

“We bring in 3.8 million gallons a day from water supply,” Culichia said. “But on water days we use 5-plus million gallons so if people water this weekend, which they were supposed to be doing on watering days, we could be at too low a level come Monday for there to be any comfort level.”

The district hopes to get a 1 million-gallon-a-day deal with Colorado Springs Utilities. A decision will be made at a meeting of the Colorado Springs Utilities Board on Tuesday. The deal would run until the end of 2009.

Cherokee officials may be cracking down on their customers, but the district has itself to blame for much of the situation.

Cherokee wrongly assumed it could move water from the Upper Black Squirrel district, and the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against Cherokee. The ruling pinched homeowners and sent developers scrambling for other water sources.