{"id":126044,"date":"2026-04-23T16:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/water-cuts-to-hit-conquistador-golf-course\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:20:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:20:44","slug":"water-cuts-to-hit-conquistador-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/water-cuts-to-hit-conquistador-golf-course\/","title":{"rendered":"Water cuts to hit Conquistador Golf Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"With
With Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co. reducing its water allocations, Conquistador Golf Course will not be immune from a tough, dry year. (Cody Olivas\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Conquistador Golf Course, a popular spot for recreation and a revenue stream for Cortez, is bracing for significant cuts to its irrigation water as Montezuma County faces extreme drought.<\/p>\n

Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co., which provides the course and other parks and recreation spaces with nonpotable water, is allocating 1.5 acre-feet per share instead of the normal 4, a 62% reduction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get to a severe cut back situation, we will prioritize keeping turf and trees alive, but I would expect to see yellow or brown turf throughout the city,\u201d Parks and Recreation Director Creighton Wright said in a news release Wednesday.<\/p>\n

City Council member Bill Lewis, who sits on the Golf Course Advisory Board, gave a report on the board\u2019s most recent discussion at the City Council meeting April 14, addressing water shortages and revenue increases as key topics during the board\u2019s April 3 session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat water will probably last, at best, until the end of June,\u201d Lewis said of this year\u2019s golf course allocation.<\/p>\n

The news comes as the course is seeing increased attendance. The April 11 tournament hosted at Conquistador Golf Course attracted more than 100 players, and the course is generating more revenue than in past years.<\/p>\n

According to Lewis\u2019s report, last year the course brought in $24,720 in revenue. This year\u2019s earnings have already surpassed that total, at $28,226, he said.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear how the drought will affect golf course attendance and revenue. The city is considering accessing some potable water for irrigation, altering watering frequency and shifting parks and recreation water resources to high-priority areas, which include the golf course. Additional water conservation measures have yet to be decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, we will follow the same conservation practices the city asks residents to follow, including watering at night and limiting runoff,\u201d Wright said in the statement. \u201cWhile we have several scenarios in mind, we won\u2019t execute them until the water availability dictates it.\u201d<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recreation Director Creighton Wright told residents to expect dry, yellow and brown grass throughout the city this summer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[28,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-126044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126044"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=126044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}