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I guess I'm not aware of their conservation; what kind of steps have they taken?
They've implemented a variety of water restrictions regarding lawn watering, pools, ponds, car washing, etc and have dedicated employees for enforcement. A ton of voluntary assistance programs to remove lawns altogether and mandated new housing have no front grass. Those big water fixtures at casinos are heavily regulated to have minimal water loss. Generally just ahead of the curve on what many cities are recently starting to implement to reduce water use and waste.
That's good news. This is data from a few years ago for Denver:
https://denverite.com/2019/05/06/denverites-can-use-120-million-gallons-a-day-to-water-their-lawns/
And that's potable water, too. I mean, what are we even doing?
It's good for cities to do their part, but AFAIK, we need to focus on agriculture - what crops are raised for what, the techniques they use, what we are putting on our plates, etc, since in Colorado that is 90% of the usage, while municipal use is 7%. Yes, it's rather stupid to use 25% of that municipal water and spray it on a non-native plant for decorative purposes, but we are going to have to rethink what we eat and how we make that food...
https://coloradosun.com/2026/03/16/is-most-of-colorados-water-used-for-agriculture/
Cities are hard-pressed to maintain ONE network of water pipes.
I'd say "barely coping"
Here's the bare facts: bungalows cost more in infrastructure maintenance than they ever pay in taxes. More frontage means more pipes and wires and conduit.
Think about how much of your area is bungalows, and understand the city is never recouping the cost of keeping that running in those areas, and is thus robbing funds from more dense areas to pay for the suburbs.
Is your city raising property taxes? No? Then it's not even breaking even now, let alone with a second non-potable water network.
Property taxes did increase quite a bit in recent years. It actually caused quite an uproar.
As for potable water, I get what you are saying there as far as public infrastructure. I believe until fairly recently having rain barrels was not permitted in Colorado. I believe they are allowed for limited use now. I don't know about the law when it comes to doing things to your own house to, say, run graywater into your garden.
I don't know if things are getting overturned, but you'd hear stories about HOAs going after homeowners for a brown lawn (apparently they don't have much to stand on in Colorado now, so if they know their rights, they'll tell the HOA where to stick it), even as there are water restrictions. And it was only recent law that forbids HOAs from preventing homeowners from using xeriscaping.
That is so wild to me, since these kinds of problems have been apparent for decades in Colorado.
I guess it's good to know that HOAs and the state can no longer actively impede people from doing the right thing - using rainbarrels and xeriscaping for instance - but it sure took a while.
Colorado does seem to be slowly waking up, thankfully, but you'll still hear really stupid conversations about it from people who think Kentucky Bluegrass in Colorado is right and natural...
They manage to recycle 85% of their water in Las Vegas. IIRC a typical American city is in the single digit percent range.
That's pretty cool. I could see how the cons might want to punish them for the "wokeness" or however the idiot cons characterize being smart and forward-looking.