For thousands, perhaps millions of years, the Great Pagosa Hot Spring had been overflowing its banks and spilling mineral-rich, sulphur-smelling hot water across a large open meadow beside the San Juan River. Over the centuries, that water had left mineral deposits in the meadow that hardened into travertine, a natural chemical precipitate of carbonate compounds. Evidence shows that the water level in the mother spring has been dropping ever since the Springs Resort began using the Town’s geothermal well to pump out hot springs water year round for the Resort’s private use — and private profits. In fact, the Springs Resort has been pumping large quantities of recycled water from an undisclosed source, back into the mother spring — presumably to keep the water level from dropping further. 

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