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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado Springs Utilities suggested putting water restrictions in place in a City Council workshop Monday.

Colorado saw the second hottest year since 1895 this year, and low snowpack levels give a terribly negative outlook for the year as drought like conditions continue.

"We are looking at a very significant, I'll call it, crisis," CSU CEO Jerry Forte said, "I think this is one of the most important things as a community that we're facing right now."

CSU plans to ask customers to put their backyard on the backburner, watering only two days a week to get our reserves back up.

"We hope to accomplish a community goal of about 30 percent reduction in our summer irrigation season, which should stabilize our total water in storage," Wayne Vanderschuere, CSU's Water Resources General Manager explained.

The storage is like a savings account. The city has only our emergency funds left and we know we've got a spending spree ahead where we'll withdraw more than we've saved. We've already dropped below levels seen in the last bad drought in 2002.

"Water is essential to our community, to our quality of life and our economic vitality," Vanderschuere added, "Having an ample supply for our community is critically important."

Colorado Springs isn't alone. Many Front Range cities including Greeley, Denver, Aurora and Fort Collins are also going to twice a week restrictions.

CSU said this H20 budget is a necessary evil and shows how severe this drought really is.

"This is serious. It's important. And it's something that we've got to do well," Forte said.

They say it's a community effort and they'll send out information on how to keep your yard alive on it's new diet as well as when and how much we can water.

But restrictions alone may not be enough. CSU is pumping reservoirs full-time now and may look into water leasing, as well.

If these suggestions are approved, fines will be in place for folks exceeding a reasonable amount that's based on the average family's usage.

You can monitor your water use online at www.csu.org

Another discussion on the water restriction ordinance will be February 26 at City Council's meeting.