Mancos Rural Water fixes three breaks; many still have no water

A week after a broken main line left about 653 Mancos Rural Water customers without water, crews have repaired three breaks where the company’s main lines cross the Mancos River. Many members still have no water or only a trickle, the company said in its latest update.

“The three river crossing mainlines that have been repaired are under very high pressure,” Mancos Rural Water said in the update, posted on its website at 2:38 p.m. Tuesday. “To prevent additional breaks, we must carefully and gradually repressurize the system. This process takes time, but it is necessary to protect the repaired lines and avoid further damage.”

The company did not say when it expects everyone’s water to be back. It said that if your water is out or your pressure is low, “your area is considered affected by these ongoing system issues.” It also said the boil-water order “remains in effect for the entire system until further notice.”

As of Wednesday morning, the Tuesday afternoon notice was still the newest one on the company’s website.

A patch that blew out

Most of the public detail has come from Travis Imel, one of seven people the company’s website lists on its board of directors. Imel has been posting updates in the public Facebook group The Original What’s Up? Dolores, Mancos, Cortez!

On Sunday, he wrote that the repair to the main line crossing the river that supplies Weber Canyon “did not hold. When crews attempted to pressurize the line today, the patch blew out.” Many residents north of town along Highway 184 had their water back, he wrote, but one line was still out.

“I have to admit, it’s frustrating to feel helpless and wish I could do more,” Imel wrote. “But I can assure you that the crews are doing everything they possibly can under extremely difficult circumstances to get our water system back up and running.”

On Monday, the company’s website said crews had repaired a second river-crossing break and were repressurizing part of the system. They were also working on another river-crossing break and looking for air locks that could be blocking water in some areas.

Then, Imel wrote Tuesday morning, “another Main water line broke at the Mancos River crossing at River Bend as the crew was bringing the line back up to pressure.” The crew would try a different way of repairing that connection, he wrote, and he was confident it would bring water back “to most members south of Highway 160, including those in Weber Canyon.” He reported progress along Highway 184 and in the Chicken Creek and Road 40 areas, “though several members are still without water.”

By Tuesday afternoon, the company reported that its crew “has repaired a third mainline break.”

Who has water, and who doesn’t

The company has not said which roads are back on. Comments under Imel’s posts give a partial picture:

• Sun West: Annette Dalley wrote Sunday afternoon that there was “No water at sun west yet,” then on Monday, “Water at Sun West.” On Tuesday, Robin Wolthausen wrote that water was back “in the sun west development” and offered: “Anyone is welcome to come do laundry or shower today if they want.”
• Highway 184: Cindy Morin, who wrote Sunday that she had been without water since Thursday, posted Monday evening: “I’ve got water! Yayyyyy! Hwy 184 near Rd 41.”
• Still out Tuesday morning: Zadra Benine Culp wrote, “Still no water on Road 40! All of us are out!” Cynthia Jones wrote, “Still no water on road 41.” Tierney Skahill wrote, “Still no water on Road H…but hopeful.”

At 8:42 p.m. Tuesday, Pam Coppinger asked Imel, “Is there hope for tomorrow? No more breaks as of now?”

“Not where it needs to be”

The outage has also turned into an argument about how customers are supposed to find out what’s going on.

“I’m disappointed and aggravated in the information being distributed to the public,” Krista Pierra wrote Sunday. “I have to search through facebook posts to find any current info.”

Imel replied that the Everbridge alert system “that many people in the county use is junk.” He said Mancos Rural Water has its own system tied to its billing records that texts the main phone number on each account. “It works reasonably well, but this situation has been overwhelming,” he wrote.

Pierra wrote back that she had yet to get a text from the company. “I understand this is an extreme event. I support the folks that are working … to fix this. But the lack of information being disseminated to the water users is unacceptable.”

On Tuesday, Joel Blondy asked why the updates were not being posted on the company’s website or emailed to members. He called the lack of communication “very frustrating.”

Imel’s answer was the fullest the company has given on the subject:

“I completely understand your frustration, and you are 100% right—the communication side of this has not been where it needs to be. To give you some background, our broader emergency notification system (Everbridge, which is tied into Montezuma County, the Town of Mancos, and Mancos Rural Water) is simply not functioning well right now. While our internal response system linked to our billing software can push texts out to primary member phone numbers reasonably well, we know our overall notification setup has major gaps. Improving our communication methods is going to be a hard focus for us moving forward.”

Until then, he wrote, he is “trying to get the word out on social media and through every channel I can access.” Blondy thanked him for the reply and for the crews’ work.

Stephanie Stuckman asked the company to put dates on its website updates “so we know how current they are.” Imel answered, “I will pass it on!” The company’s Tuesday afternoon update carries a date and time.

The Town of Mancos stopped using the county’s Everbridge system on Nov. 7 for its own, separate boil-water advisory. It said the technology was “not functioning as intended.”

Not every comment was a complaint. “THIS is how you keep a community informed! Transparent and informative,” Sally Dziedzic wrote under Sunday’s update.

The volunteers

Imel and his commenters gave much of the credit for getting people through the week to volunteers.

“We are in good hands here,” Imel wrote. “Mancos United Katie, The Cookout Zosha, Mancos Brewing Company, and the Mancos Fire department could teach FEMA a thing or two!”

Jen Anandi Magnuson pointed out that The Cookout had worked alongside Mancos United from the start to collect and hand out donations. She also noted that Saturday’s Mancos Valley Resources film festival was giving all its proceeds to the groups leading the response. Linda Safty Unsworth thanked “Kathy and all the volunteers and people who have donated at the Brewery.”

Barbara Rousseau had an idea. Noting that hard-to-get parts were part of the problem, she asked whether the welding department at Pueblo Community College could help adapt repair parts.

Where to get water and help

• Drinking water: The water station at Mancos Brewing Company has drinking water. It also has buckets of non-potable water for flushing toilets.
• Boil before use: If your water is back, boil it before drinking, cooking, brushing teeth or preparing food. The order covers the whole Mancos Rural Water system.
• Help for elderly or disabled neighbors: The company asks people to contact Mancos Valley Resources for anyone who needs help getting water or cleaning up after the storm.
• Not getting alerts? Call the office at 970-533-7435 or email mancosruralwater@gmail.com to update the phone number on your account. The office is at 1000 W. Grand Ave. in Mancos.

Mancos Rural Water serves rural customers around Mancos. It is separate from the Town of Mancos’s municipal water system, which is under its own state-required boil-and-bottle advisory.

Sources: Mancos Rural Water, “Water Service Update 11/10/2026, 2:38 pm” (mancosruralwater.com); the company’s Nov. 9 update as reposted by Travis Imel; Imel’s posts and the comments on them in The Original What’s Up? Dolores, Mancos, Cortez! (Nov. 8, 9 and 10); Montezuma County Emergency Management alert, Nov. 4.

Update, November 12, 2026: Two more breaks. In an update posted at 4:44 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11 — after this story was published — Mancos Rural Water said its crew had located another mainline break on the northeast side of the system and that one of its river-crossing mainlines “has blown out.” “This additional break is expected to impact many customers throughout the system,” the company said. “We do not know at this time when service will be fully restored.” Customers with low pressure or no water “are likely in one of the affected areas,” it said, and discolored or brown water is “not unexpected” while the system is repressurized after multiple breaks. “The boil water order remains in effect for the entire system until further notice.” The company asked anyone not getting its emergency alerts to call the office and update their contact details. That notice was still the newest on its website on Thursday evening. The Town of Mancos’s separate municipal system sent a new set of samples to a laboratory on Thursday, with results due Friday.