Mancos water clears the plant's limit; samples go to the lab

The Town of Mancos reported real progress on its water system for the first time since the flood on Sunday evening, and for the first time described what has to happen before the boil order can come off.

Graphic: Cortez Current. Source: Town of Mancos public service announcements, November 6 to 9, 2026

In a notice headed “EMERGENCY WATER SYSTEM UPDATE,” stamped Sunday, November 8 at 7 p.m. and posted on the town’s own website, the town said crews “have successfully partially refilled our storage tanks” and that the system is “currently at approximately 45% storage capacity.”

It said conditions at the water treatment plant are also improving. Raw-water turbidity — a measure of how cloudy water is from suspended particles — has fallen from a peak of 80 NTU to about 14 NTU, the town said. The plant is designed to run on raw water below 10 NTU. As the water clears, the town said, its filters run for longer stretches between cleaning cycles, which lets the plant produce treated water more steadily.

That is the first time since the boil order was issued that the town has published numbers moving in the right direction. On November 5 it warned it could run out of treated water altogether, and the state required the boil/bottle advisory on November 6 after the town had to let inadequately treated water into its pipes to keep pressure up. The town’s own after-action report said the flood ran higher than the 1937 record.

What has to happen before the advisory lifts

The Sunday notice sets out the sequence, which the town had not published before:

• Over the next several days, the town hopes to begin flushing water mains throughout the distribution system.
• Once flushing is finished, bacteriological samples — Bac-T samples — will be collected from multiple locations around the system and from both of the town’s water storage tanks.
• Laboratory testing of those samples will take about 24 hours.
• The advisory stays in effect until the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment authorizes the town to lift it.

The town did not say when it expects to reach any of those steps, and it put no date on lifting the advisory. “While we are encouraged by today’s progress, additional work and testing are necessary to ensure the water system is safe for normal use,” the notice said.

It said the town’s Incident Command team would meet again on Monday morning to go over conditions and decide the next steps, with another public update to follow that meeting.

What has not changed

The boil order is still on. The town says residents should keep following every precaution issued so far until the town gives official notice that the advisory has been lifted.

In practice, from the town’s own notices over the weekend, that means:

• Bring tap water to a full, rolling boil for at least three minutes and let it cool before drinking it, cooking with it, brushing teeth, making infant formula, washing fruit and vegetables or making ice.
• Tap water may be used to flush toilets without boiling.
• Turn off household ice makers.
• Drinking water is being handed out at Mancos Brewery, 484 Highway 160 Frontage Road, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with refills limited to five gallons per person per day.
• Keep conserving water.

The advisory covers every customer on the Town of Mancos municipal water system. The town’s November 7 notice said that Mancos Rural Water customers and people on wells are not covered by the town’s advisory — but Mancos Rural Water’s separate boil order, in place since its main broke on November 4, has not been lifted by anyone in writing either, so customers on that system should keep boiling too. The Current checked the Town of Mancos news feed, the town’s Facebook page, Montezuma County’s news posts and the county’s Facebook page on Monday morning: none of them carries an all-clear for either system.

Because the town stopped using the county’s Everbridge alert system for the duration of the advisory, its updates are going out on its website at mancoscolorado.com and on its Facebook page rather than by phone alert.

What the notice does not say

The notice does not say how many homes and businesses are on the town’s system, how long flushing is expected to take, what happens if samples come back positive, or whether anyone has reported illness. Town Hall’s number is 970-533-7725.

Source: Town of Mancos, “Public Service Announcement - Emergency Water System Update,” posted on mancoscolorado.com, November 8, 2026, 7 p.m.

Update, November 9, 2026: cloudiness drops below the plant’s limit, and samples are going to the lab

The town posted a second update at 2 p.m. on Monday, and it moves the central number past the mark this story was built around.

Raw-water turbidity “is now below 10,” the town said — the level the treatment plant is designed to run on, and down from about 14 the evening before and a flood peak of 80. Water levels in the storage tanks “have gone up,” the town said, and the treatment plant “is making treated water.”

The next step has started. “We will collect water samples from the tanks and send them to a lab for testing,” the notice says. “We are waiting for the test results before taking the next steps. The boil water advisory is still in place until further notice.” Sunday’s notice put laboratory turnaround at about 24 hours and said the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has to authorize the town in writing before the advisory can come off.

The town also asked residents to keep saving water while the advisory is in force: “Do not water lawns or gardens, wash cars, or use water for other things that are not needed.”

And it addressed a worry the flooding raised. The flooding “has not affected our water treatment plant,” the town said, and “any possible problems with septic systems or sewage treatment plants have not affected our treatment plant,” because the system that brings raw water to the plant “is located several miles upstream.” Mancos’s wastewater lagoons overtopped during the flood, and the town has told people to stay out of the river since.

“The good news is that things are moving in the right direction,” the notice ends.

Every precaution in the sections above still applies. No agency has published an all-clear for either the town system or Mancos Rural Water.

A special meeting Tuesday night

The town has also posted notice of a special meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10, in the Town Hall board room. The notice calls it an “Incident Command Meeting” and says its purpose is “to discuss ongoing emergency response and recovery efforts related to the recent flooding and impacts to the Town’s water system.” The notice gives no agenda beyond that.

Sources: Town of Mancos, “Public Service Announcement - Emergency Water Update - 11/09/26,” posted on mancoscolorado.com, November 9, 2026, 2 p.m.; Town of Mancos, “November 10, 2026 Special Notice,” posted November 9, 2026

Update, November 10, 2026: the Tuesday meeting is open to the public, and the samples have gone in

The town posted a third update at 8 p.m. on Monday, and it changes what Tuesday evening’s meeting is.

The 6 p.m. meeting at Town Hall is a community meeting, the town said, not just an internal one: “Please join us tomorrow evening, Tuesday, November 10, at 6:00 p.m. at Mancos Town Hall for a community meeting. Our Incident Command team will share the latest updates, explain the progress being made, discuss what comes next, and answer questions from the community.” Anyone who cannot get there can watch later — the town says the meeting will be recorded and posted to its YouTube channel.

The notice also moves the testing on a step. Where the 2 p.m. update said samples from the storage tanks would be collected and sent to a laboratory, the evening notice says they have gone: “Water samples from our storage tanks have been sent to the lab, and we’re waiting for those results before moving on to the next steps.”

Nothing has changed about the order itself. “The boil water advisory remains in place until further notice,” the notice says. “Please continue to follow all boil water precautions, even as conditions improve. The advisory cannot be lifted until the required testing and safety measures are completed and we receive approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).”

The town said the sediment coming into the plant keeps dropping, that storage tank levels keep rising, and that crews are working around the clock, but that there is “important work ahead to make sure our water system meets all safety requirements.” It asked people to keep following every precaution and said updates will go on its website and on the Town Hall of Mancos Facebook page.

The Current checked again on Tuesday morning for an all-clear on either system. The Town of Mancos news feed, Montezuma County’s news posts and the county’s Facebook page carry none, and neither does the Town of Dolores. Every precaution in the sections above still applies, and the alert banner on this site stays up.

Source: Town of Mancos, “Public Service Announcement - Emergency Update - Community Meeting,” posted on mancoscolorado.com, November 9, 2026, 8 p.m.

Update, November 10, 2026, evening: two main breaks fixed; the advisory stands, and more rain is possible

The town posted three more notices on Tuesday.

Two water main breaks, both repaired. In the morning the town said crews were repairing “a small water main leak on the south side of Highway 160 near North Willow Street.” A revised notice at 9:40 a.m. said “a second water main break has also been discovered on the southeast side of Boyle Park,” and that residents nearby might see low water pressure while crews worked on both. At 8:30 p.m. the town said crews “have completed repairs to both water main breaks.”

The same notice repeated the one thing that has not changed: “The Boil/Bottle Water Advisory remains in effect until the Town receives written authorization from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to lift it.” The town has not said whether results have come back on the storage-tank samples it sent to a laboratory on Monday.

More rain is possible. A “Weather Awareness Notice” said that at the town’s Incident Command meeting with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, “information was shared regarding the potential for additional rainfall beginning Thursday, November 12, and continuing through Sunday, November 15, 2026.” The town said the amount of rain is unknown and forecasts can change, and it encouraged residents to stay weather-aware and to have sandbags on hand if they feel they need them. “Residents are responsible for obtaining their own sandbags, as the Town will not be distributing them,” the notice said. The town said it is “not issuing a prediction or guarantee regarding rainfall amounts, storm severity, or potential impacts.” No watch or warning from the weather service was in effect for Montezuma County on Tuesday night.

Showers in Cortez. The City of Cortez said at its council work session on Tuesday that, at the town’s request, Mancos residents can shower free at the Cortez Recreation Center with proof of a Mancos address, bringing their own toiletries and towels.

The Current checked again on Tuesday evening for an all-clear on either the town system or Mancos Rural Water. The town’s news feed, Montezuma County’s news posts and the Town of Dolores’s notices carry none. Every precaution in the sections above still applies.

Sources: Town of Mancos, “Public Service Announcement - Water Main Repair Notice” and “Water Main Repair Notice Updated/Revised 9:40 a.m.,” “Public Service Announcement - Weather Awareness Notice,” and “Public Service Update - Water Main Repair Update - 8:30 p.m.,” all posted on mancoscolorado.com, November 10, 2026

Update, November 11, 2026: The boil and bottle water advisory is still in force on Wednesday evening, and the town’s 8:30 p.m. notice on Tuesday remains its most recent word on it: the advisory “remains in effect until the Town receives written authorization from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to lift it.” The Current read the Town of Mancos news feed, the county’s news posts and the county’s Facebook page again on Wednesday evening; none of them carries an all-clear for the town system or for Mancos Rural Water’s separate boil order, and the town has published no lab results since sending samples away. The weather service had no watch, warning or advisory in effect for Montezuma County, the valley or the San Juans on Wednesday evening, ahead of the rain the town warned about for Thursday through Sunday. Keep boiling tap water or using bottled water.

Update, November 12, 2026: The boil and bottle water advisory is still in force on Thursday morning. The Town of Mancos has published nothing new since its 8:30 p.m. notice on Tuesday, which remains its most recent word: the advisory “remains in effect until the Town receives written authorization from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to lift it.” The Current read the town’s news feed, the county’s news posts and the county’s Facebook page again on Thursday morning; none carries an all-clear for the town system or for Mancos Rural Water’s separate boil order, and the town has still published no lab results from the samples it sent away. On the rain the town warned about for Thursday through Sunday, the National Weather Service had no watch, warning or advisory in effect for Montezuma County, the valley or the San Juans as of Thursday morning. Keep boiling tap water or using bottled water.