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.
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 feet 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.
But since then, not much has happened.
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…