In dry years, Mae Morley and her family used to have to alternate the days they would shower at their home in western La Plata County. She would water her flowers with the garden hose, stopping and starting at the strict direction of a timer.

“When you can only flush your toilet once a day, it wears on the bones of your house,” said Deb Flick, another resident of western La Plata County.

Both Morley and Flick are among the 154 homes that have tapped into Phase 1 of the La Plata West Water Authority’s pipeline project. Since Sept. 9, 2020, those water woes are no longer a reality.

For years, residents of western La Plata County have lived under the thumb of their water needs. With no municipal water supply, residents were forced to haul water or rely on wells. The former is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking; the latter can be unreliable in dry years or dependent on up-slope users. Phase 1 of LPWWA’s project was the first major step in improving the lifestyles of hundreds of households.

Although the project has not recalled the noir narrative of Los Angeles’ water wars depicted in “Chinatown,” it has not been simple either.

LPWWA first had to construct a 4.6-mile pipeline from Lake Nighthorse to Lake Durango, a smaller reservoir located 7 miles west of Durango. That project, called “Phase 0,” went online in the summer of 2018.

Next came the Phase 1 pipeline, completed in September 2020.

The $5.1 million project consisted of 36 miles of pipe running from Lake Durango, west on Wildcat Canyon Road (County Road 141), south on La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) and along a web of adjacent county roads. The water is treated as it departs Lake Durango through the Phase 1 pipe, straight to the sinks and showers of LPWWA’s subscribers.

“It was a blessing for us and our family” Flick said of the project.

Flick serves on the LPWWA board. Her family bought property near Kline, just east of the La Plata River in the 1990s.

“We had tons – tons – of water back then,” she said.

But up-slope developments began to run the spring dry. Around 2015, Flick said she began to notice that her water source had become severely compromised.

“I was barely doing dishes, we were using paper products, my house was failing,” Flick said. “... There would be times that I wouldn’t take a shower for a day or two and I’d go to my daughter’s and take a shower.”

Morley also recalls the hardship of living with an imperiled water source.

“You might wear your jeans another day,” she said.

Laundry was a secondary concern to more pressing needs, such as dishes and showering. Her garden received only limited water when the well afforded her the opportunity.

“You never walk away from anything,” Morley said. “You never turn the water on and walk away from a hose, you never turn on a tap and walk away, never. And I mean never.”

Although Morley is still careful to conserve water – she is still cautious when watering flowers – life has become easier since taps came online.

“I don’t have that nagging feeling of being upset if I’m watering (plants) – that’s gone,” she said. “I can water my flowers and feel good about it.”

Flick said the water service has prevented degrading minerals from damaging her appliances. Her dishes now leave the dishwasher sparkling. But sparkling dishes are just a luxurious cherry on top.

“I can stay at my house and do my laundry,” Flick said. “I can do everything in my house. I can live in my house!”

The costs are not trivial – currently, the price of a subscription to the service (including hardware installation) is $13,000. Users then pay $175 per month for the first 3,000 gallons of water.

Some area residents have shrugged off the idea of investing thousands in water service infrastructure, citing the costs. But others are all too happy to pay.

“The reliability of it, to me, is well worth the money,” Morely said.

She pointed out that anyone using municipal water has to pay for it; not paying for her own well water was just a luxury, Morley said.

LPWWA is waiting to acquire funding to proceed with Phase 2 of the project. The second phase would run water lines west of the La Plata River.

Mardi Gebhardt, president of LPWWA, said she is still looking for the last $3 million needed to fund the project. Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have fallen through, she said.

“I think we’re going to have to go back out to the community and get more people to commit to the project, other than just the few that we have,” she said. “That would definitely make it a stronger-looking proposal.”

It is likely to be several more years before the project could be completed, and the authority is looking into hiring a professional to assist in the funding search.

In the meantime, water haulers will not have to trek the 20 miles to the Durango water dock.

Thanks to a $100,000 grant from La Plata County’s American Rescue Plan Act funds, LPWWA is installing a water dock in Marvel. A contractor is on schedule to finish work by the end of the month.

The dock will be located in Kline.

rschafir@durangoherald.com

A previous version of the story incorrectly stated the number of subscribers who have committed to Phase 2. There are 250 subscribers committed to both Phase 1 and 2.