Tuesday, Jul 3 2012 3:12PM

As wildfires in Colorado continue to engulf rural communities in Montezuma County, resources needed to fight the flames are running short, according to the Cortez Journal.

The newspaper reports residents have been asked to reduce the amount of water they are using while the battle against the fire continues.

The Montezuma County Sheriff's website announced the Mancos Rural Water Company lacks enough domestic water to serve the amount being used to soak areas around their homes. The main water source for the area, the Jackson Reservoir, is located just north of the communities being affected by the wildfires.

"Our main problem is that our system was just not designed with the capacity for fire protection," Brandon Bell, manager of Mancos Rural Water, told the paper. "We've had a lot of homes running sprinklers and watering down their property day and night and we are just not able to keep up with the demand on our system."

Residents have been using water to keep land around their homes saturated to keep fires from spreading closer. Meanwhile, firefighters are using massive amounts against the Weber Fire.

According to the news source, it has yet to be determined how the water shortage will affect residents throughout the rest of summer, especially since the fire continues to burn.

For further information, check out this source: The Cortez Journal