A Parched Future: Inside the Extreme Drought Conditions Pushing Aspen to Stage Two

On August 12th, the Aspen City Council declared a Stage 2 water shortage due to severe and prolonged drought conditions.

The summer of 2025 brought abnormally high temperatures to Colorado, leading to severe drought, particularly within the Roaring Fork Valley. Drought conditions even reached D (2) Severe and D (3) Extreme throughout Pitkin County. The drought and culmination of dry and arid temperatures has dwindled the water supply along the Aspen watershed. As Aspen lay victim to this problem, the Aspen City Council took action. This ruling conserves water within the valley, Thereby mitigating the impact of the drought. Enforemnents such as specific lawn watering schedules and cognizant landscape watering will hopefully make a change in the midst of Aspen’s troubled drought period.

Aspen city council member jhon doyle, servingt his second term, provides valuable insight into the issue. He emphasized that residents should transition from grass yards to natural vegetation to eliminate wasteful watering. Doyle also highlighted the importance of education in ensuring sustainable water use.

“Education, you know, putting ads in the paper, making sure they’re bilingual. And what I was talking about, about the Valley-wide efforts, is so when we go into these stage two water restrictions, you want to make it easy for people to understand, no matter where they live in the valley,” Doyle said.

Along with the change in rules, Aspen has work to do if it wants to withstand future droughts in the years ahead, regardless of the excuses that may arise. The vision is already in the works for a better and more sustainable water future.

¨I don’t think we can just say, Oh, we live at the top of the water basin. We need to work on our water storage. So there’s a piece of property the city bought down in Woody Creek that is going to be developed into some type of large reservoir,¨ Doyle said.

Doyle concluded and provided advice for the citizens of Aspen on how they should move forward regarding water within the Roaring Fork Valley

¨Don’t take our water for granted. It’s definitely going to be a more precious commodity as time goes on and the western United States continues to get more arid, totally,¨ Doyle said.