Denver never stops seeking more water for its burgeoning population. But Durango, a town of 19,000 people across the Rockies in southern Colorado, is taking a wait-and-see approach.<\/p>\n
You might call this unusual because Durango has access to a backup supply. In 2011, voters approved spending $6 million to buy 3,800 acre\u2011feet of water storage in a reservoir called Lake Nighthorse. The rationale was simple: The town could build a pipeline and ship that water into its system whenever dry times occurred.<\/p>\n
But since then, not much has happened.<\/p>\n
Former city manager Ron LeBlanc tried to move the project forward before retiring in 2019. An engineering study in 2023 concluded that the town should connect Lake Nighthorse to its system using one of three possible pipeline routes. Still, no construction began.<\/p>\n
Durango\u2019s mayor, Gilda Yazzie, says the city paid for its share of a pipe at the base of the dam, along with what\u2019s called a manifold — a device that would split water among the four users of Lake Nighthorse. But nothing has been built to connect that manifold to Durango\u2019s water system.<\/p>\n
Lake Nighthorse itself is the scaled\u2011down result of the Animas\u2013La Plata Project, authorized by Congress in 1968. That project would have covered the Animas and La Plata river valleys with canals, pumps and pipelines. Instead, the final plan built just one dam and one pumping station, leaving the Animas River free\u2011flowing.<\/p>\n
That decision helped protect the area\u2019s natural beauty while also attracting more people to Durango. Some of those new residents have since moved into fire\u2011prone areas. Many Western cities have learned the hard way about not securing enough water to fight wildfires. Fires racing through Los Angeles in 2025 wiped out entire neighborhoods. Water storage ran out and hydrants went dry.<\/p>\n
Durango water engineer Steve Harris has 52 years of experience in the field and is known for promoting water conservation. He thinks Durango is making a serious mistake by not connecting a pipe to Lake Nighthorse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city has a century of the Animas and Florida Rivers being so good to them with steady year-around flows that they don\u2019t even know they need storage,\u201d he said. \u201cThey may only find out during a water crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Right now, Durango has 10 to 30 days of water stored in its Terminal Reservoir, which holds 267 acre-feet. That\u2019s annual water consumption for about 600 households; Durango has over 9,000 households. The city depends mainly on the Florida River, with large draws of summer water from the Animas River. When the two rivers flow normally, the taps run. If both rivers dry up or clog with debris from fires, the city could run out of water within weeks.<\/p>\n