The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) entered stage two drought on June 22 due to decreasing water levels in Hatcher Reservoir and the San Juan River.
Drought stage two imposes a variety of additional restrictions on water use in addition to the restrictions from drought stage one.
Drought stage one restricts irrigation to between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., requires restaurants to only serve water upon request, and encourages hotels to only replace towels and bed linens at the request of current guests or for new guests.
Drought stage two further limits irrigation to only occur on weekdays while keeping the limitations on irrigation times from drought stage one.
Additionally, odd-numbered addresses can only irrigate on odd-numbered days while even-numbered addresses can irrigate on even-numbered days.
Drought stage two also lowers the threshold and increases the drought stage multiplier for residential water users from drought stage one. In drought stage one, water use above 5,000 gallons per month is charged at 1.25 times the normal rate, while in drought stage two water use above 4,000 gallons is charged at double the standard rate.
Drought stage two aims to reduce water use by 20 to 30 percent, while drought stage one aims to reduce it by 10 to 20 percent.
Watering edible and ornamental gardens with a hose or through drip irrigation is allowed in both drought stages.
The new irrigation restrictions will go into effect immediately, and the new rate multipliers will take effect on the first day of the next billing cycle — June 29.
Users with special circumstances may seek a waiver from the irrigation timing restrictions imposed in the drought mitigation plan, which can be granted at the discretion of the district manager or the PAWSD Board of Directors.
Waivers do not extend to the rate multipliers and other increased rates and can only cover waivers of the timing restrictions.
In 2025, when the district also reached drought stage two, the district granted a timing waiver to Pagosa Peak Open School for watering newly planted landscaping on its playground, among other waivers.
On Wednesday morning, the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs was flowing at approximately 35 cubic feet per second (cfs), about 5 cfs above the record low flow of 30.4 cfs, which the river reached in 2002.
The mean flow for the river on June 24 is approximately 952 cfs.
Two of PAWSD’s three water plants draw water from different locations on the San Juan River, while the third takes water from Hatcher Reservoir.
The water level in Hatcher on June 22 was about 13 inches below full pool, which is down about 5 inches from June 9.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), 64 percent of Archuleta County is in severe drought, while 36 percent of the county is in extreme drought.
According to NIDIS, severe drought is often accompanied by crop or pasture losses, water shortages and restrictions on water use. Extreme drought is often accompanied by major crop or pasture losses and widespread water shortages or restrictions.
josh@pagosasun.com
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