From the Pine River Times (Carole McWilliams):
Cooperation got a positive response on Oct. 19 at a joint meeting of Bayfield town trustees and La Plata/ Archuleta Water District board members. They discussed a possible joint venture to expand the town’s existing water treatment plant or to build a new one. Either one would provide water to both entities. The other alternative is for the district to go it alone with a new plant. LAPLAWD board chairman Dick Lunceford thanked town trustees for being open to discussing a joint venture. “I think it will be a benefit to both,” he said…
The district master plan proposes a treatment plant near Bayfield and one at the Animas/ La Plata Project Lake Nighthorse to serve the west side of the district.
Water engineer Steve Harris (Kraft’s employer) said the Bayfield treatment plant is the higher priority, because that’s more in the center of the district’s 400-square-mile service area…[Town Manager Justin Clifton] said the town will put out a request for qualifications for a consultant to do a feasibility study on a joint venture. Both boards will have to agree on cost sharing and approve a contract to do the study…
[Water engineer Steve Harris], [LAPLAWD board chairman Dick Lunceford], and [Engineer Amy Kraft] noted how long it’s taken to achieve a rural water system. The effort started in 1994 with the idea that it would be fairly easy, Harris said, adding, “Maybe we are finally getting close to putting pipe in the ground.” Kraft joked that since she got involved with the effort, she has gone to college, graduated, and had a child.
More San Juan Basin coverage here.