EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — Residents in an East El Paso neighborhood off of Adabel Drive and Rojas say they are fed up after a water main repeatedly broke in recent weeks, flooding streets, creating small sinkholes and leaving families searching for answers and a long-term fix.
“Frustration more than anything. And a sense of uncertainty,” said Tony Jacques, who lives on Adabel Drive.
Residents said crews have returned multiple times to repair the line, but the breaks keep happening. “It’s just frustration because we don’t see any accountability from the water department,” said Sidney Lerma, another resident.
Neighbors said the main has broken six times in less than a month — on Jan. 30, Feb. 8, Feb. 9, Feb. 13, Feb. 14 and again on the 25th.
Julia Spencer reports on Adabel Drive water main breaks again, residents cite sixth failure in under a month (Credit: KFOX14)
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Jacques said the situation has escalated recently.
“This is the seventh time. And really it has really gotten worse within the last month or so,” he said.
Residents said each time El Paso Water crews repair the damage, another break soon follows.
Lerma described a cycle of patchwork repairs.
“They fixed it, they came, or they fixed it. They patched it, and then broke again. And then a few days later, broke again. And they came, they paved the road all perfect and nice, and then it broke again,” Lerma said.
Jacques said neighbors want the underlying cause identified and addressed.
“And what’s really frustrating is that there has been no identification of a true cause. And so they come in patched, but they don’t fix,” he said.
El Paso Water acknowledged the repeated main breaks and said about 25 residents were impacted.
On February 14th El Paso Water provided the below statement to KFOX14/CBS4 after two back-to-back main breaks:
Adabel Drive has experienced a few breaks in the last week, including one Friday night and one this morning. They did occur in the same vicinity, and about 25 residents were impacted during both main breaks (likely the same residents). We did dispatch a water tanker last night to the area for impacted residents. Crews made repairs and restored water service overnight.A second break was reported this morning, near where the first one occurred. Crews delivered water gallons to impacted residents. EPWater staff was on-site this morning speaking with residents. Repairs are expected to take 4-5 hours. Crews will be working until service is restored.
El Paso Water provided the below statement to KFOX14/CBS4 on February 20th in regards to the unpaved sinkholes and uneven road patches:
Once repairs to the main break on February 14 on Adabel drive were completed, the street was restored to a level to allow traffic to continue. EPWater contracts vendors for street repairs, but they cannot begin work before paving permits and other processes are complete. Once all concrete work to surrounding areas is complete, vendors will begin the asphalt work and the road and affected areas will be restored. Estimated time frame for restoration is 2 weeks from now.
KFOX14/CBS4 reached back out to El Paso Water on February 21st regarding the water quality after concerns were raised by residents.
EPWater tests affected lines to ensure water quality after a main break is repaired. After the February 14th Adabel break, lines were flushed and water was tested, no issues were found. Water for Adabel Drive residents is safe to drink. If residents still have concerns, they can call the water quality hotline number and ask for the water to be tested at 915-594-5733
When the main broke again on February 25th, KFOX14/CBS4 reached out regarding the cause of the break and for an interview with El Paso Water to discuss the issue.
Instead, El Paso Water provided a statement instead of an interview that states:
El Paso Water understands the community’s concerns regarding the recent water main breaks and resulting outages on Adabel Drive. We are actively investigating the cause of these breaks and are committed to improving service reliability in the area. Our team is currently designing a long-term solution. In the meantime, crews will continue to respond promptly to any issues to minimize service disruptions for our customers.
KFOX14/CBS4 then asked El Paso Water:
How many main water breaks occurred in this area over the past month? Please provide the dates and specific locations for each incident.Was water quality testing conducted after each individual break? If so, on what dates were the samples taken?What were the results of each test, and were any contaminants detected?How and when were residents notified of the testing and the results for each specific incident?If residents were not notified, why not?
Additionally, residents state that bottled water was distributed during only one of the six incidents and that water tanks were never provided.
What is El Paso Water’s official protocol for distributing alternative water during service interruptions?Why was bottled water provided in only one instance?What criteria determine whether bottled water, water tanks, or no alternative supply is provided?
However, KFOX14/CBS4 has yet to receive a response.
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Meantime, residents said they have not been directly contacted about when repairs will be completed or when service would be fully restored.
“They haven’t contacted us,” said Dorian Rojo, who lives on Adabel Drive.
Some residents said they have also reached out to their City Council representative, Lily Limón, for help but feel little has changed.
“I would really appreciate seeing our district representative, you know, just coming to empathize with the constituents…Just being heard, just having her take the time to come out here and just look at what our street looks like,” Lerma said.
KFOX14/CBS4 then reached out to representative Limon’s office regarding the main breaks, in a statement her office said:
The main issue is aging infrastructure. When repairs are made to one section of the line, additional sections often fail due to the overall condition of the system. As a result, the responsible department EP Water is currently evaluating the cost of replacing the entire line rather than continuing with temporary, section-by-section repairs. Our office remains in direct communication with the affected constituents and is sharing real-time updates as we receive them. For any further technical details or follow-up questions, we recommend directing inquiries to EP Water, as this matter falls under their jurisdiction.
Jacques said more involvement could help push for answers.
“Well, you know, I think that it would be very helpful if our city representative would be more involved so that there can be some accountability for the water utility to conduct a full and complete investigation of the cause so that it can be fixed,” he said.
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