Imagine A Day Without Water
On October 16, Thornton is joining up with TheValueOfWater.org to Imagine a Day Without Water and taking a moment to appreciate all the ways water helps our community thrive. From the first sip of water or coffee in the morning to running your dishwasher at night, water quietly powers nearly every part of our daily lives. Water is so ingrained in our routines that it’s easy to forget how essential it is, until we imagine a day without it.
Water Drives a Healthy Community
Water powers us and improves our quality of life. Water hydrates and helps us maintain healthy bodies and minds. Drinking water supports concentration, alertness and mood stability. Our hospitals, medical and dental facilities rely heavily on water to operate and offer clean, safe services to support the health of our community. Schools, and businesses like restaurants and grocery stores need water to operate safely.
Did you know that even just being around water, whether you are swimming, fishing, walking near a body of water, or even simply showering or watering your garden can calm your body and mind? Without water our quality of life would suffer. What activities do you love that require water?
Thornton Water Customers
Water is a resource we all share and value. Thornton water customers are doing their part to value water every day by efficiently using water. Our customers use, on average, 75 gallons of water per person per day to cook, wash clothing and dishes, bathe, water plants and lawns, and overall keep our homes clean and comfortable. Thornton residents have become significantly more water-wise since 2001, when water use was 106 gallons per person per day.
Thornton City Council and Staff
Thornton City Council’s goals include fostering a thriving, resilient, and fiscally responsible city. Every city department needs water to do the work that benefits the community, from Water Supply, Quality and Treatment, Parks and Recreation, Streets and Utilities, to Police and Fire and every department in between, water touches everything we do.
What We Are Doing to Take Care of Water
Here are just a few things the city does to be a responsible steward of city water resources:
- Parks staff regularly checks for broken sprinklers, leaks and issues on the 2,500 acres of parks and open space areas they maintain. If you see an issue in a park or on a city property, please submit a My Thornton request or call Parks at 303-255-7833 to report.
- Parks uses a watering practice called “Cycle & Soak.” This method involves watering in shorter cycles, which allows the soil to absorb more water over time, promoting deeper root growth. For more on cycle and soak watering times check out Thornton’s watering guide. Irrigation schedules are adjusted daily based on the weather forecast.
- Utilities Operations closely monitors water loss on more than 600 miles of underground pipes that distribute water to homes. A proactive pipe repair and replacement program helps reduce water loss. Each year, we replace about 5,000 linear feet of pipeline in the water distribution system, focusing on segments that are damaged, deteriorated, or at risk of failure.
- In May 2025, the city launched AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) data in the WaterSmart portal for speedy leak detection on city and commercial properties, as well as for our residential customers. The near-real time water meter data provides daily water use information that will enhance leak detection and support water conservation efforts both on city properties and for our customers.
- In September 2025, the city adopted an updated municipal code defining functional and non-functional turf to align with the latest state regulations from SB 24-005 and support our water conservation efforts. The new landscape code limits high water use turf in right-of-ways, street buffers and medians. New residential lots are not required to install high water use turf and it is limited to no more than 35% of the landscape area.
Join us
Join us by taking one small action today. Fix a leak, sign up for WaterSmart or just take a moment while you enjoy your morning coffee to appreciate the clean, reliable water that flows through Thornton every day. Because when it comes to water, every drop, and every effort, counts.
Questions about saving water? Contact us via email at water@thorntonwater.com or call us at 720-977-6600.
