DOE Determination - Water Service Line Leak - Parkside Dr and Astor Circle

Description

Justin S. Greene Adam Fulton Johnson Commissioner, District 1 Commissioner, District 4 Lisa Cacari Stone Hank Hughes Commissioner, District 2 Commissioner, District 5 Camilla Bustamante Gregory S. Shaffer Commissioner, District 3 County Manager MEMORANDUM DATE: February 24, 2026 TO: File FROM: Bill Taylor, Procurement Manager, CPO Via: Justin Martinez, Utilities Operations Foreman Travis Soderquist, Public Works Department Deputy Director RE: Declaration of Emergency to Procure the Necessary Repairs to a Water Service Line Leak Located at Parkside Drive and Astor Circle in the Las Campanas Subdivision in Santa Fe County, New Mexico ISSUE On January 20, 2026, at approximately 12:00 PM, the Utilities Manager, Justin Martinez received notification of a possible water main break at the intersection of Parkside Drive and Astor Circle in the Las Campanas community, located within the Parkside subdivision. Upon arrival, SFCU staff observed a significant volume of water flowing rapidly down a nearby arroyo. As-built plans were reviewed to identify valve locations. At 12:28 PM, Utilities Director Travis Soderquist was informed of the situation and initiated the process of notifying Bill Taylor and beginning the DOE procedures. At 12:36 PM, Travis authorized Justin to contact contractors per the Procurement Manager’s approval. Justin proceeded to contact contractors based on availability and responsiveness. Subsurface Contracting was the first to respond and immediately mobilized a crew to begin repairs. After locating the buried gate valves, the water line was fully isolated at 2:30 PM, affecting six customers, all of whom were notified of the outage. Once utility locates were completed, Subsurface Contracting began excavation at 3:00 PM. Crews worked through the night but were initially unable to locate the water main. It was later determined that the line was positioned beneath a culvert, requiring removal of the culvert and installation of a trench box to safely expose the pipe. On January 21, 2026, excavation continued, including removal of a section of the culvert. By this time, the trench had reached a depth of twelve feet, yet the water main remained unexposed. A trench collapse occurred due to the depth and the presence of an adjacent sewer installation. At approximately 3:00 PM, crews located the water main but were required to excavate an additional eighteen feet along the line to identify the source of the leak.