Vets being able to occupy new buildings at the New Mexico State Veterans Home were delayed from doing so due to the lack of city water pressure, which has only recently been resolved.
The city didn’t fix the problem, the state-hired contractor did, Bradbury Stamm Construction. The contractor built an independent water system to serve the six new buildings that will each house 12 residents, likely adding to the bottom line of the $60-million project funded by state and federal dollars—taxpayer money.
The water-pressure problem and delay of occupancy were confirmed by two people interviewed by me at the vets home. One person is a longtime employee at the vets home, the other works for Bradbury Stamm.
Both sources asked to remain anonymous, claiming they wanted to avoid “trouble.” Because I also sight-confirmed that big water tanks had been placed at the back of the property, I am going ahead with using anonymous sources.
During the June 26 city commission meeting, I testified during the public hearing on the Infrastructure Capital Improvements Plan that I had heard but hadn’t confirmed that the Vets home facilities couldn’t open due to low water pressure. If this were true, I said, the city should make it a top priority among its capital projects. In later city-commission ICIP discussion of projects, nothing was said about the vets home.
The following information and quotes are from the Bradbury Stamm employee.
“The city was no help” in resolving the water pressure problem, the employee said.
Interactions Bradbury Stamm had with the city over the whole two-year construction process were “difficult, no matter what department. It makes it hard for the city to grow,” the employee said.
The city was paid impact fees, the employee said, “but we didn’t get what was promised and the city lied to us.”
The city said the facility would hook into a 12-inch water main, “but it turned out there was an 8-inch and a 6-inch line.” Both of the smaller lines, the employee said, “don’t deliver what the 12-inch line would.”
The six new buildings have sufficient water pressure for the sinks, toilets, showers and other fixtures to operate, the employee said, but not enough pressure for fire-suppression sprinklers.
Two years ago “we put a meter on the pipes and we could see the pressure going up and down,” the employee said. “There’s a lift station at the bottom of the hill that only comes on when the pressure gets low.”
But the city denied the pump at the lift station turned on and off and that the pressure was inconsistent, the employee said. “They lied to us.”
“We knew we didn’t have enough pressure for fire suppression two years ago,” the employee said.
“The city said it was our problem. It was so difficult getting information from the city that it took forever to find a solution to the problem on our own,” the employee said. “We even had trouble getting them here for inspections.”
Two of the six buildings were ready for occupancy last winter, but the contractor couldn’t get occupancy permits until May, the employee said, when the company finished putting in several water tanks holding 180,000 gallons total.
It’s a separate and entirely independent water system with its own pump, water pipes and water tanks, the employee said. “Because the city’s water system is unreliable,” the employee said, “a system was put in that could provide water for everything, not just fire suppression.”
All six buildings have recently been given occupancy permits, the employee said, after a delay of four to six months to devise and build a solution to the water-pressure problem.
I asked if Bradbury Stamm or the state would seek a partial refund of their impact fees from the city and how much it cost to put in an independent water system, but the employee didn’t know.
The employee wasn’t aware of but wasn’t surprised when told Sierra Vista Hospital had also purchased a water tank to ensure consistent water service after the city did not resolve inconsistent water-pressure.
Nor was the employee surprised that the school superintendent told Truth or Consequences city commissioners, at the June 12 city meeting, nothing had been done by the city water department to resolve low water pressure at the two, side-by-side elementary schools.
The schools’ maintenance manager also addressed city commissioners The schools had been getting 50 psi (pounds per square inch) but were now getting 20 psi, he said, and his measurements show the pressure goes up and down.
The schools, hospital and vets home are all “on a hill,” the Bradbury Stamm employee said, making them reliant on the city’s lift stations, which are evidently providing inconsistent pumping.
At the June 26 Truth or Consequences City Commission meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Amanda Forrister asked Water and Wastewater Director Arnie Castaneda to give an update on the elementary schools’ water pressure.
“The valves that are supposed to be open are open and the ones that are supposed to be closed are closed,” Castaneda said. At the June 12 meeting Castaneda said the schools’ water pressure problem was due to the city’s upper water zone leaking pressure into the lower water zone because a valve hadn’t been shut after repairing massive leaks radiating out from Arrow Street.
The schools are getting 45 to 40 psi water pressure, Castaneda said. He did not address the inconsistent-water-pressure issue. Forrister asked if the city could increase the pressure to 50 psi, which the superintendent said the schools needed to operate. No, Castaneda said. The pressure increases when the water tank is fuller. He did not indicate how full the water tank was when he took the 40-45 psi reading.
School Superintendent Nichole Burgin did not respond immediately to my phone call seeking confirmation whether the water-pressure problem has been resolved.