Mancos warns it could run out of treated water

The Town of Mancos warned residents on Thursday that it may not be able to keep treated water flowing, nine days after flooding on the Mancos River began working through the town’s water and sewer systems.

In a notice headed “URGENT PUBLIC NOTICE,” the town said sediment washed into the river by the flooding, and the reduced treatment capacity that has come with it, have left it “at risk of exhausting its available treated water supply.”

“WATER CONSERVATION IS CRITICAL AT THIS TIME,” the notice says. It asks residents to “conserve water as much as possible and limit water usage to essential needs while crews continue working to address the situation,” and says that “every effort to reduce water consumption will help preserve the Town’s remaining treated water supply.”

The town also told residents to “prepare for the possibility of a temporary loss of water service.” If service is interrupted, it said, it will announce emergency water distribution points “as soon as arrangements are confirmed.” The notice does not say how much treated water the town has left, how long it expects the supply to last, or which parts of town would be affected first.

The water dock is closed

In a second notice posted the same day, the town said the Mancos Water Dock — the public fill station — is “temporarily closed until further notice.” It gave the same cause: increased river flows and elevated sediment levels from the flooding, which the town said “have impacted the Water Treatment Plant’s ability to treat water efficiently and keep up with current demand.”

Closing the dock is “a precautionary measure to help manage water demand while treatment operations continue,” the town said, and it will tell residents when the dock can reopen. The town added that “the Town’s treated drinking water supply remains unaffected in terms of water quality” — the problem is how much the plant can make, not what comes out of it.

Montezuma County shared the supply notice on its own Facebook page on Thursday under the line “Urgent information for Mancos residents.”

Two different water systems

The town’s municipal system is not the system behind the boil-water order now in force east of town. Mancos Rural Water Company, a separate provider, lost a main on Tuesday, leaving about 653 customers without water and under an order to boil before use. No agency has published an all-clear on that order.

The town said on Wednesday that there were no reported water service outages inside town limits at that point, and asked residents to report problems to their own utility rather than through Facebook comments. Mancos United has been coordinating water distribution for Mancos Rural Water customers at Mancos Brewing Company. On Friday morning the county said people on that system are still without water and asked for volunteers to help hand it out at the brewery; the details are in the update at the foot of this story.

What the flooding has already done

The town’s wastewater plant was hit first. Flood water overtopped the treatment lagoons on Nov. 2, and the town asked people to stay out of the river below Cottonwood Park. In an update posted Thursday and dated Nov. 4, the town said the ponds are no longer overflowing, the mechanical plant is running and the discharge line is intact.

The town has also closed the South Spruce Street bridge and Cottonwood Park, reopened Boyle Park, handed out sandbags at the Grange and pointed flood-hit residents to a relief fund and the food share.

The supply notice says the town “will continue providing updates as conditions develop.” Both notices are on the Town of Mancos website at mancoscolorado.com.

Sources: Town of Mancos, “Public Service Announcement - Municipal Water Supply Update,” posted November 5, 2026 · Town of Mancos, “PUBLIC NOTICE - TEMPORARY MANCOS WATER DOCK CLOSURE,” posted November 5, 2026 · Town of Mancos, “PUBLIC NOTICE - WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UPDATE,” posted November 5, 2026 · Town of Mancos, “PUBLIC NOTICE - WATER SERVICE UPDATE,” posted November 4, 2026 · Montezuma County, Facebook post, November 5, 2026

Update, November 6, 2026: the county asks for volunteers at the Mancos water site

Montezuma County and the Town of Mancos are asking for volunteers to help hand out water in Mancos, the county’s public alert system said in a message sent at 10:07 a.m. Friday.

“We still have people out of water for a while and we are giving water to the residents,” the alert says.

The site is Mancos Brewing Company, 484 Highway 160 East Frontage Road. The county asks anyone who wants to help to claim a shift first: “Please do not show up to help unless you have signed up.”

The alert links to a sign-up sheet headed “Volunteers: Mancos Water Distribution,” on SignUpGenius. It lists four shifts a day — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 to 3 p.m., 3 to 5 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. — with room for four volunteers in each, every day from Friday, Nov. 6 through Friday, Nov. 13. As of Friday morning, Friday’s and Saturday’s shifts were partly or fully claimed and most shifts from Sunday on were still empty.

The alert does not say how many customers are still without water, when Mancos Rural Water expects to restore service, or whether the boil-water order has changed. It is the county’s first public word on the rural outage since Wednesday.

Source: Montezuma County Public Alerts System, “Montezuma County Volunteers Needed,” sent November 6, 2026, at 10:07 a.m.