Surviving the construction zone
Established in 1918, Denver Water is Colorado’s oldest and largest water utility, responsible for the collection, storage, quality and distribution of drinking water to 1.5 million people in the city of Denver and many surrounding suburbs.
Denver Water’s system requires ongoing maintenance of the physical and natural assets used to deliver water to customers, including rivers, canals, reservoirs, dams, tunnels, pipelines, valves, hydropower, tanks, pump stations and treatment plants.
Oftentimes, this means construction.
Construction is never convenient, and we understand that operating a business during construction can be challenging.
We recognize you may have questions about how construction will impact your business. This page aims to answer the most common questions, includes practical ideas to help minimize inconveniences to your business and provides direction on how to get more information. We hope you find this information helpful and thank you for your patience as we work to improve the long-term sustainability of your water system.
Tips for before, during and after construction
There is no doubt about it, construction can be impactful to businesses. The following tips may help mitigate some of these issues.
- Sign up for notifications, follow us on Nextdoor and attend public meetings. Construction timelines often change, so paying attention to communications from Denver Water will ensure you have the most up-to-date information.
- Develop a plan for the disruption and potential impacts to your business, including ramping up marketing efforts, promotions or reducing inventory.
- Inform customers early. Put up signs and provide information about parking changes and alternative routes.
- Some projects require water outages. Denver Water will provide detailed information about the date and expected length of the outage to impacted customers, as well as ways to prepare.
- While unlikely, emergency water shut-offs may also occur. During emergency outages, Denver Water will provide a notice on customers’ doors as quickly as possible. Typically, emergency repairs take approximately six to eight hours to complete. Visit denverwater.org/Outage for more information.
- Get to know the construction workers and supervisors and create a friendly rapport — they may even become new customers! Keep project contact information on hand and be sure to share your concerns as they arise. We can’t fix every issue, but we can only address the things we know about.
- Denver Water will provide general wayfinding signage; however, it’s also good to display your own signage, directing customers to the right entrance (e.g., a back entrance, if feasible).
- Let your suppliers know about construction. Communicate project work hours and try to schedule alternate delivery times if typical delivery times fall within construction hours.
- Keep a script with current construction impacts next to your phone so you and your employees have consistent and easy-to-access information to share with customers. Keep your website and voicemail updated, as well.
- While dust and noise are part of any construction site, keep your own business as dust-free as possible. We will do our best to mitigate dust and keep the construction area tidy.
- Actively reconnect and communicate with your customers to let them know the work is over.
- Consider promotions and local advertising.
- Update your website and social media.
- Let us know how we did — we value feedback and are continually looking for ways we can improve.
Business access will be maintained during the project; however:
- Lane closures may be required. People traveling through the area should expect delays.
- Street parking will not be available during working hours, and vehicles left in the “No Parking” zone may be towed.
More information
For more information, visit denverwater.org/Construction or contact Denver Water Customer Care at 303-893-2444, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For water emergencies after-hours, on holidays or on weekends, contact 303-628-6801.