Residents of the Town of Estancia are finding ways to live day-to-day with the lack of water in their community. Officials say it’s because of the town’s water well levels being critically low. An emergency declaration was issued on June 25.The resolution asks community members to, conserve water, expect possible measures to protect limited water supplies and cooperate with any emergency restrictions or actions the town may adopt. “We have not put anything in place to actually restrict the use of water,” Estancia’s Mayor Pro Tem Albert Lovato said. “But we’re just asking that the community conserves water.” Lovato told KOAT he does understand the challenges people are facing and has been getting non-stop phone calls from people that want to help.”Our residents right now are experiencing low pressure levels, which depend on where they live within the town,” Lovato said. “I would say from our last meeting, the residents are getting frustrated, and we’re doing everything we can. But I truly believe if we work together as a community and conserve water, do everything we can, we can sustain this crisis until we get to our project completion for a new well.”Mayor Pro Tem Lovato said water shipments are coming at least three to four times a day with trucks carrying at least 1,600 to even 6,000 gallons of water. Lovato told KOAT a test well was already scheduled for August 30, but now it’s been moved up to August 14. For now, residents are depending on those shipments of water, but a major issue is supplying the Torrance County Detention Facility, which has a large population and is operated by CoreCivic, a for-profit corporation.Estancia resident Simon Sandovaly said the drop in water pressure was evident weeks before the emergency was declared. He said the only information on when the water system might return to normal has been on the town’s Facebook page.While he spoke with KOAT, Sandovaly was filling up containers with water brought to the town on trucks carrying anywhere from 1,600 to 6,000 gallons at a time.”We like it mostly for the coffee pot and to wash up, because the town water is just kind of rough,” Sandovaly said. As far as the future goes, Sandovaly’s biggest concern;”That we run out of water completely,” he said. “You know, I don’t know who’s running the show, but whoever is running the show, they need to fix it.” Tonight town leaders in Estancia held a meeting where they unanimously approved a vote of “no confidence” in the current Mayor Runnel Riley. Tonight’s vote is the first step in possibly removing the mayor from office.
Residents of the Town of Estancia are finding ways to live day-to-day with the lack of water in their community. Officials say it’s because of the town’s water well levels being critically low. An emergency declaration was issued on June 25.
The resolution asks community members to, conserve water, expect possible measures to protect limited water supplies and cooperate with any emergency restrictions or actions the town may adopt. “We have not put anything in place to actually restrict the use of water,” Estancia’s Mayor Pro Tem Albert Lovato said. “But we’re just asking that the community conserves water.”
Lovato told KOAT he does understand the challenges people are facing and has been getting non-stop phone calls from people that want to help.
“Our residents right now are experiencing low pressure levels, which depend on where they live within the town,” Lovato said. “I would say from our last meeting, the residents are getting frustrated, and we’re doing everything we can. But I truly believe if we work together as a community and conserve water, do everything we can, we can sustain this crisis until we get to our project completion for a new well.”
Mayor Pro Tem Lovato said water shipments are coming at least three to four times a day with trucks carrying at least 1,600 to even 6,000 gallons of water.
Lovato told KOAT a test well was already scheduled for August 30, but now it’s been moved up to August 14. For now, residents are depending on those shipments of water, but a major issue is supplying the Torrance County Detention Facility, which has a large population and is operated by CoreCivic, a for-profit corporation.
Estancia resident Simon Sandovaly said the drop in water pressure was evident weeks before the emergency was declared. He said the only information on when the water system might return to normal has been on the town’s Facebook page.
While he spoke with KOAT, Sandovaly was filling up containers with water brought to the town on trucks carrying anywhere from 1,600 to 6,000 gallons at a time.
“We like it mostly for the coffee pot and to wash up, because the town water is just kind of rough,” Sandovaly said.
As far as the future goes, Sandovaly’s biggest concern;
“That we run out of water completely,” he said. “You know, I don’t know who’s running the show, but whoever is running the show, they need to fix it.”
Tonight town leaders in Estancia held a meeting where they unanimously approved a vote of “no confidence” in the current Mayor Runnel Riley.
Tonight’s vote is the first step in possibly removing the mayor from office.
