AURORA | In order to meet a city-ordered reduced water allocation due to drought, Aurora’s biggest water user, Niagara Bottling, purchased additional supply from Greeley.
Earlier this summer, Aurora Water warned Niagara that the company was on track to exceed its annual water allocation, which had been reduced 20% by drought restrictions. The company never violated Aurora Water restrictions and instead sought outside water resources to meet its production demands, according to a statement from a spokesperson.
“Niagara shares the goal of protecting Aurora’s water resources and appreciates Aurora Water’s responsibility to manage those resources for the community,” the statement said. “Niagara has always been, and remains in voluntary, full compliance with Aurora’s requested water reduction.”
In order to meet demand without straining Aurora’s water resources, Niagara purchased 15 acre-feet of water, or roughly 4.9 million gallons, from the City of Greeley. The water will be trucked from Greeley to Aurora.
“The water we are purchasing from the City of Greeley water source allows us to maintain the jobs at our Aurora plant, support both Aurora and Greeley communities, and continue to meet consumer demand and supply affordable, healthy water beverages to Coloradans,” the statement said.
Aurora Water Deputy Director of Internal and External Affairs Shonnie Cline said Aurora approved the company’s use of water from Greeley because it will not impact local water supply.
“One of the options that we gave them was that if they could find a water source that was not going to have an impact on Aurora Water or the city, then our general manager would consider that, which is exactly what happened — they found Greeley was willing to sell them water,” Cline said. “That is going to be the plan going forward once they do reach their allocation.”
Greeley officials told 9News, which first reported the sale, that the water is being sold through a standard hydrant water lease and that the city’s water supply can support the sale to Niagara despite the regional drought, which has not hit Greeley as hard as Aurora. They did not say how much the water was sold for.
Cline added that Niagara has not yet reached its annual water allocation but is getting close.
“They still haven’t reached that allocation amount, but they aren’t allowed to go over it,” Cline said. “If they do go over their allocation, then they would end up going through the same warnings and process that everybody else does.”
In non-drought years, there’s no penalty for businesses like Niagara using more than their allocation, the user just pays for the extra water. However, in drought conditions, going over the allocation is much more serious and can cause trickle-down effects because the system is not able to naturally replenish its storage.
In addition to meeting the allocation reduction, Niagara’s statement said it installed an in-plant recovery system that’s expected to save approximately 10 million gallons of water this year and about 20 million gallons in 2027.
Cline said Niagara stopped its outdoor irrigation to further reduce water use.
Looking to next year, Cline said the city has communicated to Niagara that continued drought restrictions are likely, which could again impact the company’s allocation.
Large commercial and industrial water users are given an annual allocation that can be reduced under drought restrictions. Restrictions for non-recoverable water users do not dictate exactly when or how those reductions must occur.
As of Sept. 1, Aurora Water has issued 440 fines, totaling $183,625, for drought violations, with 165 violations from irrigation accounts, 118 violations from residences, 84 from commercial accounts and 73 from multi-family residences.