Tapped: The Denver metro region sits at the center of one of the American West’s most complex and consequential water challenges. This series examines the interconnected systems that determine how the region secures, stores, and conserves its water while navigating the competing demands of fast‑growing urban communities and the increasingly unpredictable mountain snowpack that underpins the entire system.
In a community that’s no longer growing outward but facing a hotter, drier future, Highlands Ranch Water is turning to deep conservation measures to stretch its supplies and steady a system increasingly shaped by climate pressure rather than population demand.
“Research shows that it’s going to get hotter and drier, and we’re going to continue to have conditions where the water supply is not great, and we have to be ready to deal with that,” said Sam Calkins, general manager for Highlands Ranch Water…