Rico releases 2026 drinking-water report on 2025 quality results

Rico’s draft 2026 drinking-water report gives Dolores County residents the town’s annual public check on tap water for calendar year 2025, under Public Water System ID CO0117700, and directs questions or public participation requests to Chauncey McCarthy at 970-967-2863.

The report is the town’s Consumer Confidence Report, the yearly water notice community systems must deliver by July 1. Colorado’s public-health department says only community public water systems are required to distribute one, making the document a key accountability tool for small towns like Rico that rely on a single system to keep neighbors informed about safety and compliance.

The report explains what the town tracks in drinking water: microbial contaminants, inorganic contaminants, pesticides and herbicides, radioactive contaminants, and organic chemical contaminants. It also reminds residents that drinking water can pick up substances from a wide range of sources, including septic systems, sewage treatment plants, livestock operations, stormwater runoff, industrial and domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining, farming, gas stations, and other nearby land uses.

Rico’s report also spells out who may face greater risk from contaminated water, including people undergoing chemotherapy, organ-transplant recipients, people with HIV-AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly people, and infants. Those residents are advised to talk with health-care providers about drinking-water concerns before making decisions about daily use.

The town has been building a public record around water oversight for years. Its environmental-information page lists lead and copper test results from December 2020 and May 2020, along with a town drinking-water quality report and historic mining-related environmental materials. That trail suggests Rico’s water system is being documented as an ongoing public service, not treated as a one-time filing.

Water finance is part of the same picture. The Town of Rico Board of Trustees adopted a 2025 water rate and fee schedule that took effect May 25, 2025 and ran through December 31, 2025. The memo raised the base monthly residential rate from $38 to $42 and the commercial base rate from $68 to $75 for up to 3,000 gallons a month, then added tiered volumetric charges of $6 per 1,000 gallons for 3,001 to 8,000 gallons, $10 per 1,000 gallons for 8,001 to 12,000 gallons, and $15 per 1,000 gallons above 12,000 gallons.

Recent board minutes called the water system a “big priority” for the town, underscoring how closely water quality, system upkeep, and household bills now sit together in Rico’s public-business agenda.