In 2008, a local landowner contacted the Colorado Water Trust offering to sell his 1.5 shares (of 8) in the McKinley Ditch separate from his land with the intention of dry-land farming. The landowner had subdivided his property, and 35-acre parcels were on the market. CWT and the landowner were unable to negotiate a sale. The landowner lost the land and water to foreclosure and, about a year later, the local bank offered to sell the water and the property to the Water Trust. At that time, it looked as though any water project wouldn’t take flight unless the land and water were purchased together.