Nothing new there. Been like that forever. Remember New Mexico is "The Land of Manana." In most Hispanic cultures "manana" means "tomorrow". In northern New Mexico is means "not today". not tomorrow, but "not today". When they say they will check the water system "manana" it means "not today, but sometime...maybe".
When I lived at the corner of 3rd and Pine I had an irrigation ditch in front of my house. I had an electric irrigation pump to water my yard. Many times I washed up after a day on the road in my front yard with a hose connected to my pump. At leas I had some water.
Like Mike M. said,we kept several 5 gallon containers of water and made regular tips up to Cumbres to fill them from the overflow at the tank.
Living in Chama is/was very much like camping.