General Document Questions
The CAD Standards provide guidelines for work products for Denver Water that include: Main Extensions, Easements & Licenses, Capital Projects, and Survey.
- Denver Water’s CAD Standards shall be used by consultants on projects submitted to Denver Water.
- Consultants and contractors submitting to or working for Denver Water shall have a minimum working knowledge of Denver Water’s current AutoCAD 2026 version, AutoCAD Civil 3D, and Denver Water’s Drafting Standards.
Projects submitted through the Plan Review Process, outlined in the Engineering Standards, shall use the Main Extensions CAD Standards for submittals to Denver Water. Please see the current Engineering Standards for additional references.
Projects requiring the submittal of an easement or license agreement in accordance with the Denver Water Engineering Standards shall use the Easements and Licenses CAD Standards. Please see the current Engineering Standards for additional references.
Consultants working on Denver Water Capital Projects shall use the Capital Projects CAD Standards for project deliverables. Submittals to Denver Water shall be reviewed for CAD Standards compliance by Denver Water’s Drafting Manager.
For additional references please see these current standards:
Survey is responsible for providing professional land survey services and geodetic infrastructure to advance Denver Water's geospatial capabilities and mission.
Please email Survey.Geomatics@denverwater.org with questions.
Please see the current Engineering Standards for additional references.
Documents
CAD Standards (8th Edition, effective June 1, 2026)
CAD Standards Appendix C (Note: This PDF contains oversized pages that may have trouble rendering in your web browser. If this is the case, please download and open in free PDF reader.)
FAQs
Submit feedback on the CAD Standards through our online form.
No, not at this time. Denver Water's CAD Standards include the necessary fonts, color tables, linetypes, blocks, and layers.
From the CAD Standards: “If the layers are insufficient, refer to the National CAD Standards (NCS) before contacting Denver Water’s Drafting Manager.”
Autodesk has a downloadable utility to remove excessive scales from multiple drawings. Refer to the Autodesk Knowledge Network for more information.
- Use DWG To PDF.pc3 as the printer.
- In the Plot dialog box Print Options, check:
- Plot with plot styles
- Plot object line weight
- Plot transparency
- Under PDF Options, set:
- Vector Quality: 4800
- Raster Image Quality: 4800
- Merge Control: Lines Merge
Denver Water blocks are created on layer 0 so they adopt the current layer when inserted. Set your preferred layer before inserting any block.
Enable Show annotation objects and Add scales to annotative objects when the annotation scale changes. If the issue persists, run the REGEN command.
Support Files
Please see CAD Standards and appendices or the current Engineering Standards for additional references.
Zip files — Easements and Licenses
Please see CAD Standards and appendices or the current Engineering Standards for additional references.
For additional references please see these current standards:
Please see CAD Standards and appendices or the current Engineering Standards for additional references.
Questions?
Email CADstandards@denverwater.org.