By Lee Ross
The Mountain View Telegraph via The Albuquerque Journal
MORIARTY, N.M. — Whether it was a prank, an act of vandalism or something worse, the opening of 16 pressurized fire hydrants has caused some damage.
Opening the hydrants is a federal offense which could be punishable by 20 years in prison and $50,000 fine if it is seen as an act of terrorism, according to John Jones of Entranosa Water & Wastewater Association.
Hydrants from Entranosa and three other water systems — New Mexico American, Thunder Mountain and city of Moriarty water systems — were opened at around 8 p.m. on Friday night. They were located all around the area, from Moriarty to Edgewood, and sprayed millions of gallons of water.
Tom Torres, who manages the New Mexico American Water Company system in Edgewood, said it took about 15 minutes to respond and then close down the hydrants. About a million gallons were lost from about half a dozen hydrants that were opened in his system alone.
It seems bizarre that someone would make such an effort to pour out water, especially in the desert, said James Daniels, Edgewood’s chief of police.
“You waste that kind of water, that’s kind of crazy,” Daniels said.
The water caused damage to roadways and private property, but things could have been worse, had the pressure in the system dropped and the water was needed to fight a fire. With freezing temperatures, the water spilling onto Frost Road, for example, could have cause black ice to form and created another hazard, Daniels said.
The rushing water from a hydrant on the Entranosa system hit Richard Cannon’s property and caused about $5,000 in damages, he said.
Entranosa’s insurance company has said it isn’t liable for damages and Cannon’s own insurance is likely to go up about 38 percent for the next three years, he said.
Cannon added that he understands that Entranosa is a victim of the situation as well, but said he’d like to see locks on the hydrants.
“It’s going to happen to somebody else, too,” he said. “I’m really not trying to be the ‘woe is me’ victim here.”
Putting locks on the hydrants is something Jones said his water system may be interested in as well.
“We’ve offered to do it before,” he said. “People steal water all the time. Not great quantities, but it gets stolen.”
With 700 hydrants in Entranosa alone, not to mention the 17 other water systems in the East Mountains, Jones pointed out that it’s not just a matter of installing a few locks. Other questions include whether the locks should be uniform statewide, which fire departments should be supplied with keys and how the locks are paid for.
“Money is always a question,” he said. “Money is always a challenge.”
Another question, raised by Moriarty Police Chief Bobby Garcia, is whether adding locks would cause additional problems.
He pointed out that it could be difficult to ensure that all the volunteer firefighters who need them would have keys, and that unlocking the hydrants would take additional time. He added that, if this type of vandalism is relatively infrequent, it may not be worth the hassle and expense of installing the locks.
Jones said, before the recent incident, Entranosa’s hydrants were vandalized twice last year, but added that it may be more of a problem for some of other water systems in the area.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal