A few days ago we received our 2023 Water Wise Guide Guide from Centennial Water. This guide was an excellent instruction guide for the novice homeowner to conserve water. It targeted an audience that is high on technical ability and low on common sense. It also advised the homeowner to spend a lot of money up front to conserve water for the future.

I am a veteran homeowner and my faithful companion, Anna, is a few years my junior Our house is an average Highlands Ranch property on an average size lot. We used less than 50,000 gallons of water the last 12 months with a water budget less than 120,000 gallons. Elderly people use about half the water for “personal” use than younger people who have jobs and a family. We have been there and done that.

According to the world of Google, the average household wastes 11,000 gallons of water annually to bring hot water to the faucets and shower heads each day. Highlands Ranch has approximately 31,000 households. I will let more educated people do this math. I have owned my house since 1997 and did the landscape planning and much of it myself. It is a water-friendly lot with a water-friendly gradient This a vital key in outdoor water conservation. The street appearance, and appearance from the open space, is “better than most and good as any,” a quote from Reader's Digest about 50 years ago.

If the Herald prints this letter, we will gladly accept a winter of free snow shoveling in appreciation for these tips on how to conserve water.

Roy Legg and Anna Funk

Highlands Ranch