TELLER COUNTY — A newly formed nondenominational church in Cripple Creek has stepped up to answer the pleas of a lengthy grassroots effort to save a natural spring that’s been available for free public water consumption for as long as locals can remember.

Faith Fellowship, which opened in the fall and has about 15 members, has agreed to be the nonprofit sponsor that the Gillette Flats Springs Organization needs to continue warding off the state’s threat to cap the popular artesian well.

It seemed like a fit that makes sense, said the Rev. Brian Cooper, Faith Fellowship’s pastor.

“We’re just a group of people that love God and love people and want to be a positive influence on our community,” he said.

The requirement of pairing up with a nonprofit organization is the most recent step — and one of the last — in the winding route to bring the well into compliance with water-rights laws.

The spigot originated on private property, and the owner allowed anyone to use the water source. The tap now lies on Colorado Department of Transportation land on the side of South Colorado Highway 67, the main road to Cripple Creek.

Locals and tourists often stop for a drink or to fill a jug and take the water with them for drinking, cooking, bathing and animals.

Nearly four years ago, the spring caught the attention of state officials who declared it violated laws that govern water and mineral rights dating to the days Colorado moved from a territory to a state.

State water officials announced in 2018 they would stop the flow and return the water to the ground. That produced a wave of public objection.

“It was too much of a shock to the community to simply cap off that water supply, which was the initial response from state water and transportation departments,” said state Rep. Mark Baisley, a Republican who in November won a second term to represent the district that includes Gillette Flats and Cripple Creek.

“We can’t just do that to the community; people have been used to getting that water for decades,” he said.

Teller County residents have been fighting the spring’s closure since the state stepped in. They formed a coalition, held town hall meetings with state legislators and state employees, wrote and got approval for a Substitute Water Plan, worked with college students to devise a metering system and, after searching for a year to find a nonprofit as a partner, cleared that hurdle.

Faith Fellowship will collect and disburse funds for augmenting the water that’s removed from the spring.

The city of Cripple Creek recently backed out of selling supplemental water to the group, to replenish what the people remove from the spring, which is estimated at about an acre-foot a year, Cooper said. An acre-foot of water is the amount that covers an acre of land to a foot deep, or about enough for a family of four for a year.

Negotiations are in the works with officials from the Cripple Creek & Victor Mine, Cooper said, a plan that Baisley called promising. The gold mining company is considering selling some of the water it buys from suppliers for its operations to the group to return to streams.

A few weeks ago, Baisley negotiated a six-month extension from state water resource officials to find a source of augmentation. The agreement expires in May and is one of numerous deadlines supporters have had to meet.

“It was not done properly from the beginning, it just happened organically, but senior water rights downstream have to be considered,” Baisley said.

The final step would be approval from the state’s water court.

Saving the spring would not be undertaken for the rancher who says his horses will only drink the chemical-free Gillette Flats water, Cooper said.

“I think of the elderly lady who hugged me hard and her eyes teared up,” he said. “She lives in a Tuff Shed in Victor, and she said it’s her only source of water.

“That’s our motivation — to meet that kind of need.”

Cooper estimates about half of the people who stop at the Gillette Flats spring, now a ghost town but in mining days a populated community, have water at their homes. The other half may not.

“They live in the middle of nowhere in campers with no water or electricity,” he said. “Or, they live in what’s called dry cabins, which nine times out of 10 is a glorified Tuff Shed. And that spring is their only source of water.”

Several private water haulers service the area.

The state removed a water tank last year that had been installed beneath the spigot.

Cooper envisions building a pagoda around the spring to protect it from animals and other contaminants. Disclaimer signs saying, “Use at your own risk,” to remove liability — which has been a concern of other nonprofits as well as the city of Cripple Creek — also will be installed, he said.

Donations for helping augment the water that’s removed from the spring may be mailed to the Gillette Flats Spring Fund, Faith Fellowship Church, 227 W. Bennett Ave., P.O. Box 275, Cripple Creek, CO 80813. Or click on the donation button on the bottom of the church’s web page at http://faith-fellowship.org/contact/.