This summer, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) faces several interconnected challenges, including a record drought and significant financial challenges tied to conditions on the district’s loans.
“I’m always concerned, but I’m not overly concerned,” said District Engineer Justin Ramsey about the drought conditions.
The district is currently in the first drought stage under its drought mitigation plan, which imposes a 1.25 times rate multiplier for water use over 5,000 gallons a month and restricts irrigation to between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m.
According to Ramsey, this drought stage aims to reduce the district’s water usage by 10 to 20 percent.
Judging from last year’s experience and previous patterns, Ramsey commented that this tends to happen after people receive their first bills for a period where drought restrictions have been in effect and see the large cost increase due to the rate multiplier.
He added that the first round of bills under stage one drought this year went out on May 25 and that he expects that water use will be significantly lower for the next billing period, although usage for May 2026 was higher than usage in May 2025.
In the board packet for the PAWSD board’s June 11 meeting, Ramsey recommends that the board vote to enter drought stage two due to significant declines in flows in the San Juan River and declining water levels in Lake Hatcher.
Drought stage two would restrict irrigation to odd or even days based on street address in addition to the changes and restrictions imposed in phase one. This stage aims to reduce water usage by 20 to 30 percent.
According to U.S. Geological Survey data, the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs was flowing at 177 cubic feet per second on the morning of June 10, while data from Ramsey indicate that Lake Hatcher was approximately 8 inches below full pool on June 9 and had dropped 3 inches in the last week.
Ramsey commented that all of these levels are lower than last year at the same time and that the district could enter drought stage three or greater, which comes with increased charges and further restrictions on irrigation, if summer monsoon rains do not materialize.
According to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the entirety of Archuleta County is currently in either severe or extreme drought and the period from January to April of 2026 was the 14th driest for that period in the last 132 years.
NIDIS also indicates that about 93 percent of Colorado is in some level of drought.
On June 4, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis activated phase three of the state’s drought response plan, declaring a statewide drought emergency and enabling state agencies to take other emergency steps.
These include supplying emergency funding for unmet drought response needs, potentially seeking a federal disaster declaration and taking actions to reduce water usage at state facilities by curbing irrigation and other outdoor water use.
Ramsey explained PAWSD is taking steps beyond imposing drought restrictions to keep the district well positioned for the drought.
The district is processing as much of its uptown water supply as possible through its San Juan treatment plant, Ramsey explained, which draws on water leaving the area through the San Juan River instead of depleting the finite supply of water available in Lake Hatcher.
Lake Hatcher cannot be refilled currently since the district’s water rights on Fourmile Creek, where water is diverted for Hatcher and other lakes, are less senior than many ranches in the area and their diversion has been cut off, Ramsey stated.
Saving Lake Hatcher until later in the season maximizes the district’s water supply, he commented.
However, both the drought restrictions and the heavy usage of the San Juan treatment plant come with costs.
“We want people to quit using water, but we need them to keep using water to pay our bills,” Ramsey said, referring to the district’s drought mitigation steps.
The rate multipliers and the additional fees imposed for later drought stages help recoup these losses, Ramsey stated, but they do not fully make up for them.
Relying on the San Juan water treatment plant also brings additional costs, he indicated, since it requires pumping water 7 miles from the San Juan River to the plant and leads to a large jump in PAWSD’s electric bills.
Both the loss of revenues and the increased operational costs supplement the district’s issues with lower-than-expected amount of new construction reducing its capital investment fee income and deepen its current financial challenges, Ramsey noted.
The district’s loans, particularly for its recent rebuild of the Snowball water treatment plant and modifications to the Vista wastewater treatment plant, include conditions that the district must maintain certain ratios of income to expenses.
PAWSD Comptroller Jack Dossett explained to the board at a May 14 meeting that violating these ratios would make any future capital the district secures more expensive.
At its June 11 meeting, the board will take up both Ramsey’s recommendation to move into drought stage two and potential surcharges to make up for its current budget deficiencies.
josh@pagosasun.com
>