DENVER If you're like me and spent the weekend in a t-shirt, this may not surprise you, but: The first three months of the 2025-26 snow season, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, were the driest on record, according to Denver Water offici als.This isn't just a bummer for skiers. The snowpack makes up 80-to-90% of Denver Water's reservoirs and, therefore, our water supply.Denver7 anchor Shannon Ogden spoke with Nathan Elder, manager of water supply for Denver Water. He said he is starting to become concerned."It's still early but it is concerning that our snowpack has started out this low. Right now, for our South Platte River basin, we're 47% of normal, so about half of what we should have. And over in the Colorado River basin, where we get half of our water supply, we're also about half of where we should be," Elder said. "That's in the bottom 5%." The good news is there is still time to make up our snow deficit. We get the lion's share of snow in March and April. Elder told Denver7 that we were in similar shape at this point in 2013 and still finished with 100% of our snowpack by the end of April.At what point does Elder hit the panic button?"As we get into mid-to-late March when we have less time left to be able to make up a big deficit and our deficit in snowpack continues to grow, that's when I'll start being really concerned," said Elder.As we wait for snow, Denver Water has a list of practical things we can all do to ease the strain on our water supply.We can switch our Kentucky Bluegrass yards, that require a lot of water to maintain, to Coloradoscaping native plants and grasses that have adapted to our climate and require much less water.Denver Water also recommends installing low-flow water fixtures, low-flow sprinkler heads and low-flush toilets. On the Denver Water website, you can find information about rebates on some of these fixtures. There is a $100 rebate available for buying a WaterSense toilet that uses an average of 1.1 gallons per flush or less. There are also rebates for switching to high-efficiency nozzles for your outdoor sprinkler system. That rebate is up to $3 per sprinkler head.These measures can also lower your water bill.In the meantime, pray for snow, sleep with a spoon under your pillow, wear your pajamas inside out, flush ice cubes down the toilet and put a white crayon in the freezer. (All old wives tales said to bring snow)"We're going to be flirting, I think in the next few weeks, with the lowest snowpack we've seen for this time of year," warns Elder. ...read more read less