The tiny town of Hartman in Colorado in the US has officially been “abandoned”.Its water turned fetid. Its three-member board of trustees quit in chaos. And the 30 inhabitants have been left in limbo.“[It] is a case that should alarm every taxpayer and every resident of a small municipality,” an anonymous moderator on the Hartman Colorado Voice Facebook group declares. “Residents are left carrying all the weight: You paid your property taxes, but your community won’t see the benefit of them,” another adds.The community breakdown began last year.Hartman is a remote rural community. And Colorado is beset by a record-breaking drought. But the quality of Hartman’s water infrastructure had been left to deteriorate. Its gravity-feed tank is in disrepair. Its water delivery network needs upgrading. And a new chlorine purification system needs to be installed.That means a $US200 rate rise for town residents.It’s an unpopular proposition.But a necessary one.Meanwhile, residents were instructed to boil all water before drinking it until the necessary funds are raised and remedial work is contracted out.But “petty” inter-family disputes and allegations of fraud led to a punch-up at a town Board of Trustees meeting in January.So they all quit.Six months later, the paralysed community is in crisis.“Your local water safety is reduced to a temporary, Band-Aid chlorine pump managed by outsiders. You no longer have a local mayor, clerk, or trustee board,” rages resident Shawna Casey.“Hartman didn’t just fade away; its leadership handed the keys to the county and walked out the door, leaving the residents to deal with the fallout.”Love thy neighbourAccusations are flying. Hartman is a community at war with itself.Which is why the board quit.“Our safety was more important than having a government,” former trustee Pam Packer told The Denver Post. Running a town is a lot of work.Too much, perhaps, for just 30 people.“For years, Hartman went without audits,” one unnamed Hartman resident asserts. “For years, citizens fought to establish a functioning local government and tried to keep their community from falling apart. They asked for accountability. They tried to restore legitimate governance. They kept pushing.“And what did they get? A government that ultimately walked away.”Hartman has been left with no town clerk, no commissioner, no manager. It cannot run local elections. Pay bills. Manage its essential services.And legally, no other body can step in and do these things for it.The entire situation “smells horrible”, resident Jessie Simmons complained in a petition to the Colorado state government last month.She was asking the state government to take control.Now, the Colorado Department of State has taken drastic measures to restore order.Such complete dysfunction equals abandonment, state officials declared.Not abandonment by its population.Abandonment by its governing board.So Hartman has been erased as a legal entity.“Abandonment is the only legal mechanism in Colorado statute that creates an avenue for residents of the area to receive clean water,” Deputy Secretary of State Andrew Kline wrote in the abandonment order.Making America Great AgainThe local Denver Post news service reports regional businesses and agencies had been deterred by the town’s “combative reputation”. So they kept out of the matter.Residents have had to fend for themselves.That meant bringing in bottled and water-cooler jug supplies.“I have a bad back and cannot lift the five-gallon jugs, so I am forced to go to Walmart pickup and have them load my vehicle,” Ms Casey told US Newsweek. “When I get home, I take a few bottles in at a time.”She hopes the abandonment order will lead to quick results.“Stabilising the town’s water supply was our primary concern,” Colorado State Representative Ty Winter and State Senator Byron Pelton told local media.“In accordance with the legislation that we sponsored, the state is currently doing water testing, adding chlorine to the system and ensuring that the pumps stay on while the expedited abandonment process is underway.”Hartman is to be subsumed by a neighbouring county district.“The declaration of abandonment allows Prowers County to assume control of the water infrastructure, find a new water operator and seek emergency funding from the State to repair and stabilise the infrastructure,” a Colorado Department of Local Affairs spokesperson explains.Prowers will also become responsible for the maintenance of Hartman’s streets, community spaces and public property.But finding a business willing to fix the town’s water supply still remains a challenge.“Hartman doesn’t have a real good reputation with the struggles they’ve had, and the feedback from a lot of water operators is they’re not interested,” Prowers County Administrator Don Wilson told US Newsweek.“It’s a little challenging right now, but I think in the long run, they’ll have a water district like most communities do.”Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer