EVERGREEN, Colo. In the heart of this mountain community, Evergreen Lake attracts locals and visitors eager to experienced the beauty of Mother Nature and the activities that come along with it. What many may not realize is how the lake is able to stay filled as a majority of the state of Colorado is in drought.Jason Stawski, general manager for the Evergreen Metropolitan District (EMD), explained the lake is filled from Bear Creek, which relies on the snowpack from Mt. Blue Sky."The lack of snowpack really makes this year a lot more challenging," said Stawski. "Snowpack on mountains is a reservoir for us that slowly releases water throughout the summer months. Without snow on high elevations, we have less water throughout the year."Watch Stawski explain how they measure drought in the video below: Explainer: How Evergreen measures its drought level any given day of the yearThere was an instance when Bear Creek did dry up. Stawski said that was in 2002, which led to development of water resource management strategies that are currently in use."If Bear Creek goes dry, then the lake starts to drop in its level and when that happens, it becomes a crisis. In 2002, Bear Creek ran dry for a couple of days and the lake level started to drop. When that happens, everybody will know about it," Stawski said.To better understand the drought conditions, Stawski explained they measure the flow rate daily to determine a seven-day average. A recent report by the U.S. Drought Monitor showed 95% of Colorado in drought, with some areas more extreme than others. Currently, Evergreen Metropolitan District is in a Level 2 drought, meaning outdoor watering is limited to three days per week and golf course irrigation is reduced by 30%. Stawski said the community has been following regulations and are helping with efforts to conserve water."This time last year, our customers were using 6 to 7% more water than what they're using currently," said Stawski. "That tells me that our messaging and everything that we're trying to do to push water conservation is working. As long as we get ahead of it early, we shouldn't have any major crises that we're trying to overcome. It's just a matter of early adoption, and I think we're seeing that right now." While there is worry about these drought conditions, Stawski stressed that communities must learn to manage what will always be a recurring challenge."We need a lot more snow and a lot more consistent rain and precipitation in order to overcome the drought conditions that we see right now," said Stawski. "The challenge becomes real when the flow rates drop. For the Evergreen community, we rely 100% on Bear Creek to fill Evergreen Lake, which is our water supply reservoir." ...read more read less