Dove Creek to offer bottled water Monday at Town Hall

Dove Creek will hand out bottled water at Town Hall starting at 10 a.m. Monday, with each household limited to two cases and service ending at 4:30 p.m. each day or when supplies run out. The pickup site is Town Hall at 314 W. Hwy. 491, and the water will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Town Hall remains closed until further notice. The office has been shut since May 5 after threats and inappropriate behavior directed at staff and the town board, and the board named Rich Landreth interim town manager at a special meeting June 30, replacing Lorraine Hancock. For residents who cannot get to Town Hall, the town also operates a bulk water filling station at 1st and Marion Street, available year-round, 24 hours a day, subject to change.

Dove Creek will shift from water treated at the town’s own plant to treated water supplied by Montezuma Water Company. The transition is set to begin July 13 and will change the disinfectant in the system from chlorine to chloramine, with the changeover expected to take several weeks. The move follows a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment enforcement order issued in March 2025 after elevated total trihalomethanes, or TTHMs, were found in the town’s water system. The town board voted June 17 to leave the Dolores Water Conservancy District and switch to Montezuma Water Company.

Dove Creek is the Dolores County seat, a small statutory town with a population under 750 that was incorporated July 10, 1939.