The city of Española lost 1 million gallons of water, and the use of one of its most productive wells when Tank 2 sprung a major leak late Monday night.
“We have to go to Stage 4 (Water Emergency) right away, we don’t have no choice,” said Española Water Director Marvin Martinez.
In a Stage 4 situation, either a key element of a city’s water supply is significantly damaged, or the city anticipates being able to meet only 50 percent or less of demand. This leak will leave Española unable to use Well 2, which is located on Industrial Park Road, and serves that same area, along with providing fire protection and backup water throughout the city. The city meets both requirements of a Stage 4 emergency, and the City Council declared one at a special emergency meeting July 15. Currently, the city expects to be able to lift the emergency restrictions within two weeks.
“Because we lost the tank’s storage capacity, we also lost the pumping capacity of Well 2, because there would be nowhere to store the water it produces,” said Acting City Manager Veronica Albin. “That means we lost 432,000 gallons of production. We’re talking almost exactly 50 percent (of the city’s total capacity).”
The city also lost around one third of its water storage capacity for any given day, Martinez said.
A Stage 4 Water Emergency limits municipal and residential water use drastically, and places a number of restrictions on city activities while the situation lasts (see sidebar).
The tank’s failure has been a possibility since February, after the results of a commercial diver’s inspection indicated significant corrosion at the bottom of the tank. The firm recommended the city immediately repair or replace the tank.
“I’ve been telling them to fix this,” Martinez said. “We had the money to fix this and we didn’t. This is the worst that could happen.”
Martinez and Public Works Director Ben Ortega obtained permission from the state Water Board to isolate the Industrial Park Road neighborhood from the rest of the water system in order to use Well 3 to provide service to the area. Special permission was needed because Well 3 has elevated levels of arsenic that violate current federal environmental standards. This water had been previously been treated by blending it with of Well 2.
However, since the levels are in violation by only four parts per billion, the state granted the city permission to do this and gave the city until September to find a solution. In the meantime, Industrial Park Road has both water and fire protection, but businesses and agencies located in the area have been advised to avoid drinking their tap water.
If the city decides to rehabilitate the tank, which Martinez said is feasible, the repairs will probably be complete by the September deadline. If such repairs are not possible, or if the city decides to replace the tank, the city will make use of a series of temporary tanks with a capacity of 10,000 gallons each to accomplish the blending process, Martinez said.
The most likely source of funding for this project is city cash reserves from the three-eights gross receipt tax, which is set aside for sewer and water projects, Albin said. However, Mayor Joseph Maestas said he wants to explore the possibility of obtaining emergency funding from either the state or the federal government.
Maestas and Mayor Pro Tem Alice Lucero, both of whom went out Monday night to view the damage, said they are particularly frustrated that city instructions to address the problems in February went unheeded.
“We’ve been wanting to get this tank replaced,” Lucero said. “Marvin’s been saying it, and the city council told (Albin) to take care of it. Just goes to show we have an incompetent city manager.”
Lucero also said she no longer trusted Molzin-Corbin, the engineering firm that designed the tank and employs Albin’s husband, and hoped they would not be involved in its repair or replacement.
Maestas, who is himself an engineer, did not mention either Albin or Molzin-Corbin, but said he felt the engineering report in February was not specific enough.
Albin would not respond to Lucero’s comments.
The city is in the process of viewing proposals starting at around $250,000 to replace or possibly repair the tank. As of the emergency meeting, the City Council was still waiting on one more proposal before they could review them. Once a decision is made on their course of action, the Council and Albin expect to have Tank 2 back online in six to eight weeks.