The city of Española footed the bill to fix a water leak at the Phillips 66 gas station located on the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in August.
The city’s Water Department was instructed by Interim City Manager Veronica Albin to perform the work on the Ohkay RV Minimart, a profit-making entity of the Pueblo’s Tsay Corporation, and those orders were followed, Water Director Marvin Martinez said.
Martinez did not think the city should have fixed the leak since it occurred in a pipe on the gas station’s property.
“The only thing we’re responsible for is the water meter itself and shutting off the water main,” Martinez said.
Albin said the Department was supposed to work with utility workers from the Pueblo to fix the leak at the Riverside Drive business. However, Martinez said the only crew on scene at the leak Aug. 27 was the city’s.
About five city workers were utilized for a seven to eight hour shift, Martinez said. He estimated the cost to the city, including tools and worker’s salaries, at around $2,500, he said.
The leak occurred 100 feet onto the property, he said. A broken PVC pipe fitting had to be replaced requiring workers to cut eight feet of piping, remove mud, bring in base course and repave the area, he said.
Albin said she made the decision to have the city work on the leak because it was not worth fighting with the Pueblo over the issue, and water was being lost.
“It was, number one, intergovernmental cooperation,” she said.
Martinez said normally the city is required to fix any problems leading up to the city-installed water meter. The water meter at the gas station was originally installed three feet into the station’s property line, he said. It was later moved 150 feet into the property to its current location, near the mini mart building, he said. Martinez said this happened approximately 10 years ago and that the Water Department had nothing to do with the decision to move it.
There was no contract made regarding the move or how it affected the city’s maintenance of the water line and meter because it was a verbal contract, Albin said.
Tsay Corporation Water and Wastewater Manager Andrew Medina reported the leak to the city. Medina said he works with the Pueblo on water and wastewater issues.
“Anything before the meter is the responsibility of the city,” he said. “The leak was before the meter.”
Despite the city addressing the recent water leak, Medina said the city needs to work on its working relationships with the pueblos.
It has been at least six months since negotiations to build sewer lines to the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo were stalled, Public Works Director Louis Lujan said.
The project is not off the table, but either the city or the Pueblo needs to make a move to restart the negotiations, he said.