SUN Staff Report
7/23/09
Española city officials reacted swiftly to the failure of Tank 2, and most of the Industrial Park Road neighborhood experienced few inconveniences reported in relation to the incident.
The notable exception was the warehouse that houses the Española Police Department, the Española Jail and Atlas Fitness Center. Representatives of the gym and the jail confirmed that they were without water late last week, due to insufficient water pressure to operate sinks, showers and toilets.
“For a period, we were without water,” Jail Director Ted Garcia said.
Garcia refused to elaborate, but Acting City Manager Veronica Albin confirmed that the entire building has had water pressure problems off and on since Tank 2 failed, losing 1 million gallons of city water and rendering Well 2 temporarily inoperable.
Albin said the problem was reported to the city by jail employees. This problem was solved by manipulating a series of valves that control the direction of water flow until the right combination was found, Water Director Marvin Martinez said.
Albin did not know how inmates coped with the lack of water and non-working toilets, she said.
Atlas Fitness Center owner Gino Brazil said his facility was without water for three days,.
“We were down completely,” he said.