April 13, 2026
The District’s Drought Management Plan sets trigger points for Voluntary
drought procedures and four mandatory drought restriction stages from Low
through Severe.
The trigger points for the Voluntary Drought Restrictions are any one of the
following:
1. A curtailment order on Four Mile Creek prior to May 1.
2. A maximum Snow Water Equivalency (SWE) less than 75% of Median.
3. Reservoir levels with the addition of diversion flow less than 90%.
The Voluntary water reduction stage is intended to give the community
advanced notice of developing drought conditions and to begin encouraging
water conservation. The Voluntary stage does not trigger the drought
surcharge or tier rate multipliers (rate increases).
More info:
• PAWSD entered Voluntary water reduction stage on April 6, 2026 because
of San Juan River Flows, NOAA Extreme Drought designation, and SWE.
• The current Snow Water Equivalency (SWE) is 1.7” with the Median SWE
on this day of 32.3”. The recent snow in the upper watershed delayed the
SWE from dropping to zero; however, it is still likely the SWE will drop to
zero and the District will go into a higher level drought stage in the next
few days.
• If the SWE drops to zero prior to April 17, 2026, we will go directly to
drought Stage 2. If the SWE goes to zero between April 17 and May 1,
2026, the District will enter drought Stage 1.
• Both drought Stage 1 and 2 will trigger tier rate multipliers (rate increases)
that will impact the customer billing received in May.
The District appreciates everyone’s cooperation in using less water. If you have any
questions regarding the current Drought Management Plan, it can be found on the
website at https://www.pawsd.org/water-service/water-conservation/