EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — El Paso Water has reported a staggering loss of 15 million gallons of water following last week’s massive main break in Northeast El Paso.
CEO John Balliew informed the City Council that the rupture drained 15 reservoirs, equivalent to nearly 23 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
During the council meeting, Rep. Josh Acevedo questioned Balliew’s absence during the crisis.
Balliew responded, “I was around, right? So it’s all of publicly, publicly and private. Was there? What I was trying to do was concentrate on the budget.”
He explained that Gilbert Trejo, who oversees the response team, managed the situation effectively while Balliew focused on budget preparations.
In a potential relief for the 100,000 residents affected by the outage, the utility is exploring a bill credit to compensate those impacted.
The failure exposed vulnerabilities in a 1950s-era system design.
In addition, during the council meeting on Tuesday, Rep. Cynthia Boyar Trejo for District 4 said she shared her concerns regarding the recent water main break, stating she “emphasized the importance of transparency, clear communication, and ongoing evaluation of emergency response efforts.”
According to a social media post, Trejo said she plans to propose amendments to the 2021 El Paso Water reporting resolution to “strengthen transparency and accountability through regular public briefings on infrastructure conditions, maintenance priorities, emergency preparedness, communication protocols, and lessons learned from major incidents.”
She added, “As City Council, we do not manage operations or approve rates for El Paso Water. Our responsibility is to advocate for transparency, accountability, and affordability on behalf of residents.”
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to Trejo via email for further information on her proposal.
RECOMMENDED: Water main break exposes vulnerabilities in El Paso’s 1950s-era system design
Sign up to receive the top interesting stories from in and around our community once daily in your inbox.