North-side waterline break creates sinkhole
Jan. 14—A resident of Juniper Drive woke up Wednesday morning to a shocking scene — the ground near her home had been stripped away and swallowed by a sinkhole that emerged following a water main break earlier that morning.
"We walked out of the house on yesterday morning, and there was no ground behind our cars," said Peri Marr. "I guess it can happen everywhere, but I'm sure we'll never see one in person bigger than this."
Beyond her driveway was a damaged Juniper Drive, now with a miniature canyon created by the broken water pipe.
Marr said the eroded landscape stretched nearly 60 yards. She and other neighbors on her east-side street and Piñon Drive are expecting to remain without water until at least Saturday morning.
City officials say the sinkhole was formed after a water main broke early Wednesday. The city sent a text message alert at 3:21 a.m. notifying people of the issue and stating water service would be disrupted.
Public Utilities Director Shannon Jones said city crews have been working around the clock to fix the issue.
"It did wash out part of Juniper Lane, but we did get it isolated," he said. "Ultimately, there were three water lines, one of them leaked, but then the damage of the erosion caused the other two to fail."
Jones said crews hoped the first pipe would be reinstalled Thursday night, with the other two completed by Saturday morning. As for the damage the break caused, that solution is still being assessed.
"There were erosion issues down the road, including driveways and some landscaping, and I do believe that mud and water did enter into a few homes," he said. "I know that all that is being assessed and, again, we're taking it one issue at a time."
Marr said city employees had been kind amid the chaos of the situation, but the dirt road in front of her home had been washed out.
Filling the chasm left by the sinkhole, she said, will take plenty of work.
"When we're getting ready to go to work, I go, 'Where's all the dirt?' " Marr said. "I'm sure some of it washed out, but they must need to bring in just tons of dirt to fill that hole."
It is not the first water main break to occur in the city in recent weeks. On Dec. 24, a pipe broke on Avenida San Marcos. Two weeks later, a water leak occurred in the Hillside Avenue area, according to messages from Alert Santa Fe.
Jones said crews are working as hard as they can to resolve the issue.
"We know it's an inconvenience for the residents in the area, and we're working around-the-clock to get it put back in and get service restored," he said.
