The Dolores Water Conservancy District has sold Totten Lake to the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co.
The sale has been pending since MVIC signed a lease-purchase contract for the lake in 2020, said DWCD general manager Ken Curtis.
At Thursday’s DWCD meeting, the sale price of the lake and its water rights were finalized for $61,000, he said.
The contract has been signed by both parties, and the deeds and funds will be exchanged by the end of the year, Curtis said.
The 3,000 acre-foot capacity lake northeast of Cortez provides agriculture water for McElmo Canyon farmers and ranchers. Water is purchased by individual farmers and delivered via McElmo Creek to private land.
“Totten is more in line with the the MVIC area,” Curtis said of the sale.
He said it became somewhat of an orphan reservoir for the DWCD system once the Towoac Highline canal came on line. The district considered a project to pump the water uphill to the canal, but it was cost prohibitive.
MVIC general manager Brandon Johnson said irrigation service from Totten to McElmo Canyon will continue under MVIC, which has managed it for the past year.
The reservoir has been on restricted fill status by the Colorado Division of Water Resources because repairs are needed on the upper part of the dam structure. The lake is not allowed to fill until repairs are made.
MVIC is now responsible for the dam repairs and is working with DWR on a plan and timeline.
Totten Lake receives water from McPhee Reservoir via the nearby Towaoc Highline Canal. Water is delivered to the lake if there is more than enough water to fill McPhee, which is not every year.
The water rights for Totten are junior to McPhee rights.
Totten is also a state wildlife area managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and that will remain, said southwest area wildlife manager Adrian Archuleta.
Public access to the lake for bird hunting, fishing and nonmotorized lake recreation will continue. Parks and Wildlife holds a perpetual easement that allows for public access to the lake regardless of the owner, Archuleta said.
Totten is ideally positioned to provide irrigation water for McElmo Canyon, which has a lower elevation and earlier growing season.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
