MAGDALENA – The residents of Magdalena may face another water crisis similar to the one last year if a backup well is not in working order, according to a report by Mayor Sandy Julian at Monday night’s village board meeting.
“We have no backup well. The Spears and Benjamin wells are down, and if something happens to our (one working) well, the people of Magdalena will have no water,” Julian said. “The secondary well is near the Trujillo well and it was never hooked up to the main line. We’re going to have to get engineers in to have it checked.”
The need for a backup was exemplified last year when water was in short supply for three days in March, 2009, when a major pump failure in Magdalena’s main water well resulted in the draining of the village’s water tanks.
Because of water shortage, classes at Magdalena Schools were cancelled for two days, and Fred Hollis and Jerry Wheeler of Socorro County Fire and Emergencies Dept. helped Marshal Larry Cearley get bottles of drinking water to the elderly and home-bound.
The American Red Cross in cooperation the Walmart Distribution Center in Los Lunas responded to the situation with a pallet of 54 cases of bottled water.
The failure was due to the fact that the contractor - four years before - had failed to install a anti-vibration collar, what’s called a “spider”, on the submersible pump. Over time the normal vibrations damaged the pump’s wiring, resulting in a short circuit which burned out the pump.
In April, 2009, the village government began the process for getting that backup well on-line.
That process was halted when the state government pulled funding from the project.
Julian said funding for getting the exploratory well completed will be hard to acquire.
“I might have to go to Santa Fe to try to get loans or grants,” she said. “Rita will have to help look for other places to apply for grants.
“I’m worried that if something happens, we won’t have water. Right now we have nothing to back us up. We may have to be in debt for the rest of our lives, but we need to have a backup well.”
Julian said in the meantime
she located a company in Albuquerque that could get a pump installed within 24 hours.
In other village business:
• Julian appointed Trustee Barbara Baca to assist Fire Chief Art Rauschenberg with paperwork. “I want her to work with Art on what needs to be ordered and what not to order,” Julian said.
•Deputy Marshal Brad Welton has turned in his resignation to be effective July 11. “He will work through Old Timers weekend and that’s it,” Julian said, “He sent a letter to Larry which was given to me.”
•Julian asked the Board for guidance on how to proceed with a request to making sidewalk repairs on Main Street between Third and fourth streets. The sidewalk can either be removed completely or replaced with new cement, Julian said. “Dean Otero said he could do the work himself, but we have to buy the cement. Or we could just tear it out and pack the dirt down, and not worry about it anymore.” She said, if approved, there was a possibility of other residents wanting sidewalks on their streets repaired. The board tabled the issue “until we know which way we’re going.”
• The Board approved a request from Rauschenberg to spend $9,000 on supplies and needed upgrades for the volunteer fire department, including a new glass front door and various firefighting tools.
• Julian said repairs to one of the village vehicles needs to be done and a quote has been submitted by Winston’s garage. “I was told he could go ahead and do the work, and hold the bill until August, “to help out the village (financially).”
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