At its June 15 meeting, the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) Board of Directors discussed 2026 and 2027 strategic objectives for the board.
SJWCD board president Randy Cooper opened the discussion by summarizing the board’s 2024-2025 objectives, including redefining the financial partnership for the Running Iron Ranch, making the case for the reservoir at the ranch by defining feasibility and demand, and engaging with the community and the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) on projects that advance community interests, like conducting a community water demand study.
In December 2024, PAWSD initiated litigation with the SJWCD over its ability to sell the ranch, which the two districts jointly own, without the consent of the SJWCD.
The districts are currently in the process of negotiating a settlement to this lawsuit.
Cooper commented that the district needs to have a “singular focus” on finalizing a water demand study and, if that study shows a need for more water in the future, the district needs to focus on working with entities that will help the SJWCD raise money to construct the reservoir at Running Iron Ranch.
“We can’t just keep goin’ on talking about we wanna do a reservoir,” he said. “We actually have to figure out what is the strategy for moving forward to raise the money to build this reservoir.”
He added that, although the district would also have to consider details of who would work on what objectives and other similar concerns, he wanted to focus on the high-level strategic priorities that would help move the district toward building a reservoir.
SJWCD board member Joe Tedder commented that educating the community about the reservoir would still be critical and would be made easier by having a finalized water supply and demand study.
He added that selling the reservoir to the community or financial partners is difficult without this study and questioned if the other objectives should be put on hiatus until the study is completed.
Cooper commented that this would likely be true since the study would require the participation of all the board members and the district’s community partners.
SJWCD board member Candace Jones commented that, from this discussion, it appeared the board had one strategic objective of advancing the reservoir project and several tactical goals to help achieve it.
Jones stated that the tactical actions should include engaging with projects like Archuleta County’s comprehensive planning project, which must cover water issues.
“My point is there are these things happening that are natural venues for us to be present and talk about water even while the demand study is going and even to the point of saying this is why we need a demand study,” Jones said.
SJWCD board member Charles Riehm commented that the board also needs to include finding a way to sustain payments on the loans with the Colorado Water Conservation Board that funded the purchase of the Running Iron Ranch, which are currently held by PAWSD, as a strategic objective and point of focus.
Riehm added that, while this issue would not be his No. 1 priority, it would be a “close second” to its goal to advance reservoir planning and construction.
Cooper commented that he is “not comfortable” with “fluffy, feel-good” community outreach and wants to focus on engaging with formal planning efforts and other venues.
Jones added that the Wildfire Ready Action Plan (WRAP) that the San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership is working on developing will also be a relevant venue for water planning in addition to the county plan and the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) being developed by the Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwestern Colorado.
Cooper summarized the proposed strategic objectives, including completing the water demand study, implementing the settlement with PAWSD and conducting community outreach with the three ongoing planning efforts in the community.
He asked if the board was comfortable with these objectives, which several board members confirmed.
Cooper commented that the board needs to assign specific members to each strategic objective to ensure ongoing progress.
Tedder stated that he would continue to represent the SJWCD on the WRAP project, while Jones indicated that she would work on representing the SJWCD in the county comprehensive planning and the CEDS processes in addition to continuing to participate in implementing the settlement with PAWSD.
Cooper stated that he would also continue participating in the settlement implementation process as well as working on the water demand study.
SJWCD board member Rodney Proffitt indicated that he is interested in participating in the water demand study work in addition to working on the planning efforts.
Riehm indicated that he and board member John Kappelman are working on managing the Running Iron Ranch and that he would be willing to additionally help with representing the SJWCD in the ongoing planning efforts.
Tedder commented that the board likely will need to be more proactive in terms of presenting ideas in the comprehensive planning efforts in addition to listening at the meetings.
Cooper concluded the discussion by indicating that he would work on writing up the objectives and distributing them to the board for further review.
josh@pagosasun.com
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