The Small Towns Run on Wells, Too.

Founded in the 1890s as a Pecos River irrigation colony, Barstow was Ward County's first county seat — its grapes even won a silver medal at the 1904 World's Fair. Then a dam burst that same year and salted the soil, ending the farms; out here, water quality and supply still make or break a place, which is exactly the work we do.

Grandfalls is named for the "grand falls" on the Pecos River, where 1880s settlers built brush dams and canals and even ran a cotton gin off the falling water. River irrigation built the town, and its homes and farms still lean on the Pecos Valley aquifer and dependable pumps today.

Laid out around 1908 and renamed for California's Imperial Valley, Imperial was sold as irrigated farmland — promoters diverted Pecos River water into Imperial Reservoir to make the pitch. But salty river water and a shrinking supply made farming tough, which is exactly why a reliable well matters so much here.

Coyanosa is groundwater farming country. It took off in the 1950s when growers drilled wells to irrigate cotton — and later cantaloupes and onions — straight out of the desert, and those fields still depend on the irrigation wells and pumps that keep them running.

A close-knit farming community in the Toyah Valley just east of Balmorhea, Saragosa is woven into the same spring-fed irrigation district that greens this corner of the desert. Tied to the Balmorhea canals and the Pecos Valley aquifer, irrigation and pump service are simply part of daily life here.

The oldest town in Reeves County, Toyah was once a busy Texas & Pacific Railroad cattle-shipping hub — named for the creek that drew people here in the first place. The railroad came for the water, and the few who remain still depend on wells into the Pecos Valley aquifer.