How the Dolores Project changed lives in the Colorado Ute communities

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, along with its two federally recognized sister tribes — Southern Ute and Ute Indian Tribes — identify as a hunter-gatherer society. Oral histories indicate that they do not have a migration story and always lived in the Rocky Mountain region, making Utes the oldest inhabitants of Colorado. They lived nomadically, following water and wild game for sustenance and ceremonial gatherings. Their territory was a vast expanse that included much of present-day Colorado, Utah and northern New Mexico. 

For centuries, the Nuuchu (Ute) People lived in peace. European settlers began establishing themselves on Ute territory in the 1800s. Clashes over ownership and the sharing of resources followed. The U.S. government led a forced removal of the Utes. By 1868, a series of broken promises and treaties pushed Ute People onto reservations in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. These were areas deemed undesirable by settlers because water was scarce and the land was not as conducive to farming. Tribes lost most of their aboriginal lands in a span of about 40 years. 

The Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is located in the Four Corners area on the Colorado Plateau, a desert environment characterized by deep canyons, washes and mesas. Climatic shifts paired with prolonged periods of drought may be one reason the Ancestral Puebloans migrated from the region by AD 1300.

“When you talk about the Ancestral Puebloans that used to live here — why did they leave? We may think we're better off than that, because we were able to make storage and have that water supply. And some people say, ‘Well, let's let everything run free’. Let me tell you how good McPhee Reservoir made things. If it doesn’t snow or rain, though, it makes (water) very precious. Even for the tribe,” Whyte said as a swift southerly gust of wind rustled nearby sagebrush, a plant emblematic of the arid intermountain West.

McPhee Reservoir and the dam, key components of the Dolores Project, capture and store water that is allocated for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The project diverts water from the Dolores watershed to the San Juan watershed through an elaborate design of tunnels, pumping plants, pipelines and canals nearly 47 miles southward to the reservation.

Water started flowing to households in Towaoc, the Ute Mountain Ute’s headquarters, in 1994. 

“I remember when we were growing up, we had to haul water from Cortez if we wanted some good, clean water,” Whyte said.

Cortez is located about 15 miles north of Towaoc, where the majority of the tribe’s 1,700 members reside. Hauling water requires reliable transportation, storage tanks, time and money for fuel.

The Tribe had access to few resources prior to the 1990s, as any kind of economic development required adequate water supplies. 

From the creation of reservations in 1868 to the Colorado River Compact of 1922, tribes were not a part of the water equation. Meanwhile, non-Native towns, farms and industry moved in, accelerating the pace and scale of water development throughout Southwest Colorado and the entire Colorado River Basin. Institutionalized water management systems have historically left Indigenous voices out of the decision-making process.

Tribal leadership was adamant on the need for “wet water” instead of “paper water” — typically a decree or a monetary payment — long before a water settlement was agreed to.

For Ernest House, Sr., who served 31 years for Ute Mountain Ute as both Chairman and Councilman, “it was always one of his points whenever he testified in front of Congress,” recalled Mike Preston, the water resources consultant for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.