The city of Manitou Springs has banned all water use except for essential drinking purposes due to a critical shortage, according to a news release issued Monday.

The temporary ban includes showering, dishwashing, laundry, car washing and outdoor water use.

Because of the shortage, Manitou Springs School District 14 announced Monday night that classes would be canceled Tuesday.

The critical water shortage is the result of a “double whammy,” Manitou Springs Mayor John Graham said during a news conference Monday. The city’s primary water source has high turbidity, which prevents the water being collected in the reservoir from being treated; additionally, the backup supply is also temporarily unavailable.

“Whenever there’s a lot of rain, or runoff or rapid snow melt, that mixes up all the turbidity, all the wonderful things you find on the floor of the forest. Pine needles, dirt, bits of wildflowers, that all gets washed into the water. That creates the turbidity problem,” Graham said.

“We’d simply clog the filters,” Graham said.

The several feet of snow that fell on Pikes Peak last week is melting, resulting in “increased runoff into our watershed,” according to Facebook update shared by the city. “This runoff carries with it higher levels of organic matter and suspended solids, which in turn raise the turbidity of the raw water entering the Manitou Springs Water Treatment Plant.”

Manitou’s primary water source is French Creek on Pikes Peak; in the event the flows are insufficient to meet water demands, Manitou can access water via the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project—a federal transmountain diversion project. The agreement allows for direct delivery of water through Colorado Springs Utilities’ Old Northslope Pipeline, officials said.

“We simply turn a valve, and the water comes into the Manitou Springs system. Well, that’s plan B. Turns out, plan B failed yesterday,” Graham said during the Monday news conference, explaining that there there were leaks in the pipeline.

Aside from the leaking pipeline, Manitou residents also used more water than expected on Mother’s Day, he said.

Colorado Springs Utilities anticipates completing emergency repairs to the pipeline by the end of the week.

“Once repairs are finished and the system is recharged (which takes approximately 24 to 48 hours), the City of Manitou will switch to using the Old North Slope Pipeline until turbidity levels in French Creek subside and normal reservoir treatment operations can resume,” the release said.

As of Monday evening, there were 1.75 million gallons of water available for the city’s roughly 5,000 residents, Mayor Graham said.

“It’s good to remind us that we need to be protective of our resources and be careful.”

Graham expected that restaurants could be hit hard, but acknowledged things could be worse.

“We’re not at the height of the tourist season. If this had happened in July we’d be in real world of hurt. This is pretty tolerable, we can get by,” he said.

“Manitou people are fairly creative and pretty resilient.”

The mandatory water restrictions began Sunday and were expected to continue through at least this week.

The Manitou Springs Pool and Fitness Center is closed as of Monday until further notice. All programs, including fitness classes, swim lessons, and team practices are canceled.

“The city emphasizes that cooperation from all residents and businesses is essential to help manage current water quality concerns,” the release stated.

City officials say strict participation and adherence to the emergency water restrictions is required.

The restrictions will remain in place until further notice.

Any water-related concerns are to be reported to the following contacts:

• Public Works emergency line: 719-685-2557

• Urgent Public Works issues: 719-492-0058

• Water sewer emergencies: 719-492-1970

• General inquiries: 719-685-2573