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<br />. <br /> <br /> <br />u <br /> <br /> <br />lainfall helps, <br />>ut reservoir levels <br />;till below average <br /> <br />IyToddHartman <br />OCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS <br /> <br />Denver's drought Is over-sort of. <br />It works like this: What scientists <br />all a "meteorological drought" - a <br />lrought measured strietly by annu- <br />I precipitation levels -is hlstoryin . <br />l1e metro area. <br />That's because moisture totals so <br />11" for the 2003-04 water year are <br />bove or nearing annual,averages, Il <br />I.Ct helped measurably by Wednes- <br />ay'sdeluge. <br />BUt the metro area's "hydro1ogi- <br />!l1drought"? That's another story. <br />That type of drought pertIllns to <br />()Wmuch waterislnstreams and res- <br />volrs, andwhetherenoughis stored <br /> <br />tomeetpopuIation demands. <br />By Denver Water standards, the <br />hydrological drought continues be- <br />cause its reservoIrS are below aver- <br />age1eveIs. <br />Even all that rain dldn'thelp Den- <br />ver Water that much. That's be- <br />cause most of Denver's reservoirs <br />are In the blgh country, whlIe the <br />ralnstorm was eentered. squarely <br />overthe mettoarea. <br />Still, all that water helps the reser- <br />voirs, even ifit didn't help till them. <br />"The main etl'ect of the storm Is <br />that it will reduce lawn watering, <br />which means we wUl not have to use <br />as much reservoir water," said Trlna <br />MeGuIre-Collier, spokeswoman for <br />DenverWater. <br />Ditto for Auront, where spokes- <br />woman Melissa Elliott said the rain <br />was . so heavy that no one should <br />have to water thejr lawn until early <br />September "even !fit's dry and sun- <br />ny for the rest of the month. U <br />"Shut otl'those sprinklers and en- <br />Joy those lowerwater bills, U she said. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br /> <br />. <br />In <br /> <br />Just how much water fell on Den- <br />ver Wednesday? Nolan Doesken, a <br />research e1lmatologist at Colorado <br />state University, calculated it at <br />about 6.8 billion gallons - or nearly <br />21,000 acre-feet, about 7.5 percent of <br />what Denver Water customers use <br />per year. <br />But, of course, localutiJ,lties can't <br />begin to captUre all that water. Most <br />ofitends up gushing down the South <br />Platte River, where downstream <br />farmerswlllappreeiateitthemost. <br />1>8 big as the storm was, it alone <br />hasn'tllfted Denver out ofltameteo- <br />rologlcaI drought. Instead, it was <br />just another contribution - albeit a <br />big one - from Mother Nature dur- <br />ing a blessedIyralny, cool summer. <br />.We're the exact opposite ft'om <br />2002, when it was hot and dry." said <br />state cllmatologist Roger PieIke. <br />"Now, we'rewetandcooL~ <br />. Precipitation has been spotty in <br />the rest of the state. The Western <br /> <br />Flip to DROUGHT on lOA <br /> <br />. <br /> <br /> <br />es <br /> <br />Precipitation totals . <br />Howthe wateryear (Oct 1- <br />Sept. 30) is shaping up. Figures <br />show precipitation through . <br />Wednesday and how they <br />compare withhistoric averages.* <br />Loc8tIon Amt. Pet <br /> ofavg. <br />Denver-Stapleton 13.85" 92 <br />DIA 10.84" 72 <br />Lakewood 17.56" 112 <br />Denver Water HQ <br />(central Denver) 13.93" 102 <br />Colorado Springs . 17.73" 109 <br />Airport <br />Pueblo 12.91" 112 <br />Boulder 22.08" 122 <br />. 'Precipltation totals for Aug. I-Ill are <br />estimates; total percentage assumes no <br />more rain will lall in Augus\. . . <br />Climatologists consider an area to be out <br />of meteorological drought when <br />precipitation is over 70to 75 percent of <br />historical average. <br />