Officials: Water tank break-ins could endanger lives

PORTALES — Mischief makers breaking into the operations for the city water tanks could be endangering lives, according to Portales police and city officials.

Portales Police Department Detective Charlie Smart said the city and law enforcement believe teenagers or youth have been breaking into the operation unit building at the city’s water tanks on Johnson Hill, off of U.S. 70 between the city and New Mexico 202, and tinkering around in the building.

“It really appears that someone is just playing in there, just turning valves and stuff.” said City Manager Sammy Standefer. “There’s nothing extremely troubling, but there are things in there that could be really dangerous if they are not being used appropriately. We’ve had it under close surveillance, but we still seem to be having some issues. Most importantly, I just want to keep everyone safe. Someone could hurt themselves if they are playing around with the wrong thing.”

City Public Works Director John DeSha said all the water from the Blackwater wells goes through the tanks then to the city, so “anytime anyone’s messing around in there, we have to take it seriously.”

DeSha said the city uses chlorine gas to sanitize the water to make sure it is safe to drink.

“If someone gets destructive, it could get very dangerous. That’s why we take the precautions we do,” DeSha said, adding that the water tanks site has warning signs all around it regarding the gas.

“The intruders can’t damage it to where there would be a large amount (of gas) released at once but some gas could be released (if they messed with the right controls),” he said.

Standefer said no one has damaged the city’s water supply, and doing so would require getting on top of the water tanks and tampering with hatch locks that are connected to alarms.

But whoever is breaking in could harm themselves if they were to cause a small amount of chlorine gas to leak out.

“Ultimately, there has been no damage, but we don’t want there to be,” he said.

He said the city is in the midst of putting up barbed wire fence and security cameras, which should be in place by the end of the week.

DeSha said the city also has an alarm system that would alert them immediately if gas were released, so it could respond right away with the fire department.

“It can cloud up and move with the wind. Anyone out there (nearby) can be harmed by it,” Smart said of chlorine gas. “We need everyone in the community to be vigilant and if they see anyone going up there, give us (police) a call.”