A study funded by grant money in Arapahoe County shows the county water supply is sufficient for now.More people are expected to move in the coming years, and Arapahoe County Commissioner Jeff Baker said this ignites the need to conserve.The study lists several goals to ensure the county's supply lasts long-term like closing potential gaps between future supply and demand, improving water use efficiency and extending the life of Denver basin aquifers."Well, the main thing is, is that even though we have a supply of water available, we also need to conserve. This is a precious resource, and the eastern plains is well known for being semi arid, and so a lot of the the water that we use is groundwater," Baker said. "So the board of county commissioners recently adopted new landscape regulations based on this study. They include a stronger emphasis on water conservation and a prohibition on non functional turf in commercial areas."Right now, the county has a population of 656,000 people, That number is projected to reach more than 900,000 by 2050, according to the study."Our study showed that we can produce about 141,000 acre feet of water every year. And that's fine, because with our current population of 656,000 we need about 83,000 or a little bit more than that, 83,000 acre feet of water," Baker said. "But if our population does grow as projected to that 900 to 960,000 the demand will be between 108 and 116,000 acre feet per year if we conserve."For reference, one acre foot is the same as filling Empower Field at Mile High's football field with nine inches of water, and they're talking about doing that over 100,000 times to meet demand."So the board of county commissioners recently adopted new landscape regulations based on this study. They include a stronger emphasis on water conservation and a prohibition on non functional turf in commercial areas," Baker said. "The next thing that we want to do is make sure that we're coordinating with developers and water providers to identify opportunities to consolidate individual wells into community water systems serviced by fewer large wells."Baker said two projects are already underway to convert turf to grass. He added, their water action plan aims to reduce the use of landscape water by about 15% in the next ten years. Study finds Arapahoe County water supply is sufficient until 2050