A proposal to bring potable water to residents in the southeast corner of La Plata County is finally in the starting blocks. The town of Bayfield and the La Plata-Archuleta Water District signed an agreement Tuesday to expand the town’s water-treatment plant. Under the agreement, the district will pay for the work, a more economical solution than building its own treatment plant.

The sponsor of the recreation master plan for Lake Nighthorse is ready to pass along the responsibility, but the tentative receiver, the city of Durango, has yet to act. Cathy Metz, the city director of parks and recreation, told Animas La Plata Water Conservancy District board members Tuesday that she wants to apply for grants for first-phase development of recreation at Lake Nighthorse.

Members of the Animas La Plata Water Conservancy District board want to take a new look at how 700 acre-feet of water from the Animas-La Plata Project is used. The district acquired 2,600 acre-feet of water when the A-LP, as it’s known, was created. The majority, 1,900 acre-feet, was for the city of Durango, with the remaining 700 acre-feet earmarked for an unspecified future need.

The possibility of finding a manager of recreation at Lake Nighthorse brightened this week when the city of Durango said it might assume the role. “We’re in an exploratory phase,” Cathy Metz, director of the city Parks and Recreation Department, said Wednesday.

The water agency that has been scrounging dimes to provide recreation at Lake Nighthorse heard Tuesday from a source that can provide dollars for the job. Mark Chiarito, resource management specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation, told Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District board members that his agency can help finance the planning of recreation at Lake Nighthorse.

A committee that took on the job of developing recreation at Lake Nighthorse is negotiating with a consultant to produce a skeletal plan that would lead to a fleshed-out version focusing on a timetable, cost and public benefit.

The latest promise of drinking water for this parched southwest corner of La Plata County known as the Dryside could be a mirage similar to the many Pat Greer has seen since he was born here 74 years ago.