In 2002, the worst drought in 300 years dehydrated the State of Colorado, leaving it a crispy brown tinderbox.Denver Water scrambled to adapt. The northern side of Denver?s collection system only has about a fourth of the water that?s available on the southern end of the system. This already-smaller north side was dangerously close to running dry, forcing operators to jury-rig a distribution system that would deliver water from the south side to the parched north.