Vandals destroyed the city of Durango’s only water dock early Wednesday morning, cutting off an important source of potable water for many residents in unincorporated areas of La Plata County.
“We haven’t calculated the damage in dollars yet,” Steve Salka, the city’s director of utilities, said Wednesday.
“The sad thing is not the loss to the city but to the people who depend on the dock for drinking water,” he said.
The water dock, at 550 South Camino del Rio between a car wash and Serious Texas Bar-B-Q, replaced the one at Chapman Hill that was removed to make room for the roundabout on Florida Road.
Salka estimated the water dock is tapped for 100,000 gallons a week in the summer. Users pay with cash.
The dock is closed until further notice.
“It happened at 5 a.m.,” Salka said. “We know because they cut the wires to the data link to our office.”
The vandals pried off the door, pulled out electric cables and ruined the metal security shield around the cash box.
Salka estimated the box contained from $100 to $300 in $1 bills and quarters.
When the dock reopens, Salka wants to limit water sales to transactions using a debit card purchased for the purpose.
“There would no longer be cash at the dock,” Salka said.
Salka said the Durango Police Department dusted for fingerprints, looked for anything that might hold a DNA sample and is checking security cameras at the next-door car wash and the Comfort Inn across South Camino del Rio from the water dock.
daler@durangoherald.com
