Hundreds lose water source in Colorado's poorest county with no notice

Summary

FORT GARLAND — In the sandy hills scattered with piñon pine and spiky yucca, hundreds of people have relied on a water supply that is so much a part of the local culture that Costilla County residents describe it as a way of life. Drilling for water is a pricey gamble on the high desert where many live off the grid at 7,500 to 10,000 feet of elevation. A well could cost $25,000 with no guarantee that water will spring, even after digging hundreds of feet. Instead, many people in the poorest county in the state have opted for cisterns, reservoirs buried underground and covered with a plastic lid or cement slab. To fill them, residents drive 20 minutes or so to town, often weekly, with tanks in their pickup trucks or on their trailers to buy water at 10 cents a gallon, or they have it delivered for an extra fee. It is time-consuming, tedious and steeped in routine. And in Fort Garland, the system was abruptly cut off this month — without warning or notice. The fight over the water has pitted residents of Fort Garland who have plumbing and pay for metered water against those living outside the city limits with cisterns. The board of the Fort Garland Water and Sanitation District — which cut off water sales to rural residents Aug. 1 in a 3-2 vote that wasn’t even on its meeting agenda — has devolved into shouting matches and dysfunction. Board members have referred to disgruntled residents as an “angry mob,” and one city resident shushed the water district administrator as she explained the deficiencies of the town water system. People who relied on Fort Garland water to fill their cisterns have been left dry. In the heat of summer, some have gotten water from neighbors who have wells, though well-sharing is illegal. Some are driving two hours to Pueblo to buy water. Many have been getting water in the town of Blanca, where officials offered — only as an emergency solution until the end of August — to let people fill up water tanks from a hose connected to a fire hydran...