Preserving wildlife habitat such as the South Platte River marks a new era in urban development with the designation of natural park areas.

Mayor’s Water Initiative: Working in Partnership

Partnership. Collaboration. Synergy. These words highlight the importance of working together to make Denver a city where people and nature thrive, and all applied to the Mayor’s Water Initiative in 2005:

The South Platte River Water Quality Initiative

Several of Denver’s city departments worked together to develop strategies to reduce pollution levels in the South Platte River through aggressive intervention measures, monitoring, regional cooperation and public education.

Water Speakers Series

The Denver Mayor’s Office partnered with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Wright Water Engineers and Denver Water to offer a speaker’s series on the “Best Ideas in Western Water,” highlighting conservation leadership opportunities that will shape the future of the state and the region.

The Community Conservation Gardens Project

In an effort to increase public interest in and awareness of landscape water conservation, a joint effort between the Mayor’s Office, Denver Botanical Gardens, Denver Water, Gates Family Foundation, the Denver Office of Workforce Development, Department of Parks and Recreation, Mile High Youth Corps, and Green Industries of Colorado helped convert four prominent public landscapes to model “waterwise” gardens in 2005.